Divided By Two
by XME
Summary: AU. DPxDF. Danny Fenton has too many secrets. Abandoned. Now adopted by Moniol.
1. Day 1: Failing

Warnings: AU. This story includes DPhantomxDFenton slash. Further warnings can't be included without ruining it for you, and as such can be found at the top of each chapter. Also, please forgive me for the short chapters, but I'll try to make up for it by updating twice a week. Deal?

Divided By Two

Chapter One: Failing?

The sun was sending burning hot rays down on the town of Amity Park. A few children were using magnifying glasses to cook ants. One eight-year-old, budding scientist was attempting to fry an egg on the sidewalk, much to his mother's displeasure. Meanwhile, hundreds of teenagers were locked into the shadowy halls of Casper High School.

As the budding scientist was dragged into the house by his mother, the school bell rang. "-and have a good summer!" A middle-aged teacher said cheerfully. His face became more solemn as he turned to one of his students in particular. "Daniel, please wait a moment. I'd like to speak to you about your final grades."

The boy winced, turning back around to face his teacher. "Yes, Mr. Lancer?" he answered softly, looking mournfully over his shoulder to wave his friends on. "I'll catch up in a few minutes, guys. Meet you at the Nasty Burger!"

"Daniel…" Mr. Lancer trailed off in a miserable sigh, looking at what had seemed, at the beginning of the year, to be one of his more promising students- if only someone could reach him.

The boy, seeing his expression, lowered his eyes to the floor. "Yeah. I know," he muttered, "You 'expected more of me after my sister'." His voice shifted into high, lilting mockery, and he rolled his eyes before lifting his head and glaring at the teacher. "I hate to tell you this, Mr. Lancer, but I've already heard it from all of my other teachers."

"They suggested that you ought to be like your sister?" the man asked, his voice round with disbelief and his lip wrinkling slightly in distaste. Daniel Fenton needed to be encouraged, not forced into his sister's shadow; how else would he grow into the strong man that Mr. Lancer knew he could be? Children, he sometimes thought, were like seeds; give them proper light, water and roots and they'd blossom, but put them in another's shadow and they'd wilt and die.

The boy nodded mutely, his brow screwing up and gaining lines like those in breaking glass. "What did you want then?" he asked abruptly. Turning pink at how rude his question sounded, he quickly added, "I mean, if it wasn't to lecture me."

"Do you know the requirements for graduation, Daniel?"

Daniel frowned at what he thought was a random question. "Uh, not really. Math and science and English and stuff."

Mr. Lancer mentally banged his head on his desk. 'Math and science and English and stuff'? Not only was that grammatically incorrect (he could practically hear the lowercase 'english' and spelling mistakes), but the boy truly had no comprehension of the requirements! He kept his face impassive. "Yes, that's right, although I wouldn't have put it quite that way myself." He paused to gather his thoughts, then sighed and continued, leaning forward and meeting the boy's eyes.

"Daniel, you thankfully passed American History and Spanish, and just barely scraped by in Science, but you failed dismally in English, Algebra, and Computer Technology. Comptech was no great loss, but you failed two major classes!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing in a much calmer tone of voice. "Fortunately, if you have no study halls, pass all of your future classes and Principal Ishiyama takes pity on you, you will be able to make up for the most of the classes you failed this year.

"Unfortunately, you need to pass four years of English to graduate, and you only received fifty-six percent. Tell me, Mr. Fenton, what were you planning on doing to make up for that?"

"Summer school?" The boy suggested weakly, watching his teacher with nervous eyes.

"No, Daniel, I'm afraid not." As the boy began to turn pale, he nodded to himself. Yes, the boy seemed to have learned his lesson. "Luckily for you, I'm willing to give you one more chance to pass my class…"


	2. Day 1: Diary

Warnings: None yet, still a G rating. Maybe PG, at the most.

* * *

The boy with dark skin and greenish eyes was laughing. "A diary?" he screeched, his face turning red as he gasped for air.

"Shut up, Tucker. It's a journal, and I have to do it or fail the year," the other boy muttered, his own cheeks turning red (although for different reasons). The other two teens had decided to wait for him outside the school instead of meeting him at his house, although they were almost back when Tucker had his laughing fit.

"Did he say how long the entries have to be, Danny?" a pale girl with black hair asked. It was the first time she had spoken throughout the second boy's recitation of his assignment.

"Yeah, at least a page, regular twelve point font, one a day, and he has to read them, and I have to actually edit them, and-" The boy babbled, unconsciously speaking too much in order to cover his friend's laughter.

The girl interrupted him with a laugh. "You said that already." She was the smallest member of their group, and tried to hide it with giant, butt-kicking boots. She now reminded Tucker, the first boy, of why he had named them as such. "Grow up, Tucker."

"Ow! Geeze, what was that for?" He yelped, rubbing his sore rear end. "Sam, that hurt! Man, isn't a guy allowed to laugh around here?"

"It's impolite to laugh at someone," she replied haughtily. "You should know better. Honestly, Tucker, you'll never get into the best places like that." Her snooty façade was suddenly broken by a giggle when Danny, the second boy, looked at her incredulously. "My parents used to say that to me all the time," she explained.

"Oh," the pale boy replied, and suddenly grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Hey, I can write that in my journal thing tonight! Explaining about your parents should take up at least half a page, right?"

Tucker snickered again, but Sam raised her foot threateningly. He quickly closed his mouth and swallowed hard. "I mean… that's great, Danny. Then you can, uh, go and do other things that are more man- uh, just as manly, like video games?" He ended on a question, looking at Sam hopefully as they walked up the sidewalk to Danny's house.

She continued to glare at him for a moment, then sighed and relaxed. "I guess I'll let it by this time." Her resigned expression suddenly turned mischievous. "'Sides, aren't you forgetting how I used to kick your butts all the time online? Wouldn't that make video games… feminine?"

Danny smirked at Tucker's wide, horrified eyes and dropped jaw, stepping forwards to open the door. "Probably. Besides, dude, you keep a blog. That's as much a diary as my thing."

Sam absently stepped past Danny, nodding at him in thanks for holding the door. "Danny's right, Tuck, you really- what?" She asked warily, having caught a glimpse of Tucker.

Tucker's face was splitting with an ear-to-ear grin. "Nothing, nothing," he replied, eyeing the open door. "Do I get the door held open for me, too?" He asked, batting his eyelashes.

"Oh-" Danny's face began to turn red again, as did Sam's. "My parents raised me right, alright? Unlike you, obviously, you-" He paused, his tone changing mid-sentence. "Of course, Tucker, my parents taught me to always hold open doors for ladies, like you."

Laughter sounded from within the house as a thin woman with red hair walked into the hallway. "I'm glad to hear it actually sank in, Danny, although I'm not sure we meant Tucker when we told you that."

"Mom! Hey, what are you doing home so early? I thought you were going to that ghost thing." Danny asked, immediately switching from teasing mode to good-son mode. His grin became less mischievous and more sheepish.

"We've had some bad news about your aunt, Sophie. She and the baby are fine now, but she- well, why don't you three come into the living room so we can talk about it?"

* * *

AN: Wow, I actually got a second chapter up in a reasonable time period. Yay me!

Chapter Three up by Tuesday-ish. I've been getting dizzy and going randomly mute for the past two weeks, so I don't know if I'll actually be healthy enough to get on the computer. Oh, well. We'll see...


	3. Day 1: Traveling

Warnings: Again, none; G or PG again.

* * *

In the basement of FentonWorks, there are a thermos, a fishing rod, a vacuum-cleaner, gloves, a dream-catcher, and other apparently random objects. What do all of these devices have in common, my dear reader, do you know? In many cases, none; but in this situation, they are all ghost-catching devices invented by Jack and Maddie Fenton. In fact, for most of them, add the word "Fenton" and, perhaps, "Ghost" in front of them for their proper name.

There are also a belt and a few guns that are ghost-_attacking _devices, but they are at least nine years old and closed up in boxes.

You are looking for something, I see. You are waiting for me to tell you where to look, but it isn't here. There has never been, and there never will be, a Fenton Ghost _Portal_ in this basement. No, my dearest reader, don't look so surprised. It will all come clear in time.

* * *

"What happened to Aunt Sophie?" Danny asked, settling onto the floor in front of the couch with a plate of cookies. It was a few minutes after he and his friends had reached his home. The adults had refused to continue the conversation until they were all fed, and sitting in the living room. Danny had sped up the process by bringing the cookies and milk in with them.

"Do you remember when I told you that she's having a baby in August?" Maddie asked, snagging a cookie off the plate to hand to Jack. She and Jack were sitting on the couch, with the teens in a semi-circle around them.

"Yeah," Danny said, smiling, "a baby boy, right?"

Maddie nodded. "The problem is that she has been pushing herself too hard. It's her fifth child," she added to Sam and Tucker, "and I guess she thought that, after so much practice, she could handle more. She just plain collapsed yesterday, and almost had a miscarriage. She's such a fragile little thing…" Maddie trailed off, a far-away look in her eyes.

"But she and the baby are fine now," Jack told them. "After all, they're Fentons! Strong people, Fentons are! Why, I remember, one time my uncle-" The large man was quieted by his wife handing him another cookie. If she hadn't, his booming voice might have gone on all day.

"However, the doctors have told her to go on bed-rest. That means that she won't be able to go to work, and her husband will have to work extra hours. Someone needs to take care of the children and the house." Maddie hesitated, taking a moment for a deep, slow breath. She watched Danny intently while she handed her husband another cookie.

Danny was staring at her with wide and slightly confused eyes. He had an odd tightening in his stomach, as if he had just heard very bad news, but he didn't know what was so wrong in what his mother said. Perhaps in was just the way she looked at him, or maybe his subconscious was picking up on her meaning before him. Either way, he had a feeling that she was telling him something that he didn't want to hear. He clenched his fists to keep from covering his ears.

"We've offered to go and help out until the baby's born," Maddie said. "All four of us will leave tomorrow afternoon. Sam, Tucker, your parents said-" She had been speaking quickly, like she was trying to cover up the news with her following words.

"What?" Danny asked sharply, "What do you mean, 'all four of us'?" I'm not going anywhere near that town!" He pushed the plate of cookies off of his lap and onto the floor and then stood. His panicked voice rose to a yell. "I'm not going anywhere near that town!"

"Oh, yes, you will." Maddie told him, frowning. "I know you're upset, but that is no tone to use with your mother!"

Danny paused and took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. "Why us?" He asked, tightly but almost calmly, rubbing his hands through his hair. His sudden calm was belied the pale shade of his skin and the width of his eyes.

Maddie sighed, her gaze softening as she looked at her youngest child. He had grown up so much since they had moved to Amity Park. Maybe he could handle this now, she thought. "No one else can afford to take that much time off, Danny. Our work can be brought with us. It can even be done better there, because of the high level of spectral energy in the-"

"There have been dozens of ghost sightings in Friendship in the past nine years, Danny! Maybe even over a hundred! We've just got to go and hunt them. We've been waiting and waiting, but Maddie only just said yes because of Sophie. I'm so excited!" Jack was almost bouncing up and down in his excitement.

Danny looked back and forth between his two parents, both watching him hopefully. "Right, then. When did you say we're leaving?" He asked, sliding down to sit again.

"Tomorrow afternoon." Maddie smiled at him, sinking back in her seat in relief. "Sam, Tucker, we got permission from your parents for you to come with us, if you'd like." She smiled at them as well, waiting for their responses.

"Uh- where are we going, again?"

* * *

AN: Wow, this is pretty long! I'm finally getting somewhere!

"Friendship" is the town where Whipstaff Manor was, which was where Casper lived. Hmm, Casper High School and "Amity" Park- I wonder what Butch Hartman was getting at there?

I miraculously got the afternoon off today, hence the early chapter. As I said before, there'll probably be more by Tuesday.


	4. Day 2: Silence

No warnings yet; PG?

Divided by Two: Silence

Four teens sat in the back of the RV. The oldest was a girl of sixteen and a half years. Her head was bent over a book called "Dealing with Death: Psychological Effects of Losing Loved Ones, Book One: Atheists". Her long red hair brushed against the edges of the pages despite a teal headband, which she wore because it matched her eyes. She sat up very straight, with her legs crossed at the ankles. Her name was Jazz.

The next oldest was also a girl, age sixteen. Her eyes were the same bright violet as the purple crayon in a child's coloring set, and her makeup was pale lavender. Her pleated skirt was a black-green-purple plaid, and her stockings were purple; except for those, she wore only black. She had short, dark hair, some of which was pulled up into a small ponytail, a black tank top, and large black boots. She curled up in her seat with her legs pulled up beside her, and reading a book called "Stray: The History of a Cat".

Third was a boy, Tucker, who had turned sixteen less than a month before. He had black hair, dark skin and brown boots, but offset them with his bright green, yellow and red clothing. He wore glasses, a red beret, and had a carpenter's-belt full of electronics. He was bent over a game boy, face intent and too close to the screen.

The youngest teen was a pale, thin boy called Danny. He had eternally messy hair the color of the night sky, and eyes like the day. He wore ragged jeans and a rumpled, red and white T-shirt. He was fifteen years old, and Jazz's brother. He leaned backwards in his seat, staring at the ceiling and listening to headphones.

Maddie Fenton turned around in her seat to face forward, a slight downturn to her lips and brow. They were being too quiet, and it worried her. Sam and Jazz were usually quiet, unless someone said or did something with which they disagreed; and Tucker could play with electronics for hours without a sound; but Danny was like his father, loud and active. He had been that way since second grade. Even when engaging in traditionally quiet activities he was loud- when he read he whispered the words to himself, when he played video games or watched TV he commented on what he saw, and when he did chores he hummed, sang, or talked softly to himself.

Maddie listened carefully, and turned around again when all she heard were turning pages, beeping from the GameBoy, and the soft whirr of a CD player. Nothing had changed from when she last looked. She watched them thoughtfully for a moment, and then, falsely cheerful, called out the words certain to get a response from any Fenton male. "Anyone hungry?" It was almost eighteen 'o' clock.

Sam nodded, "Yes, Mrs. Fenton."

"Yes, Mom," said Jazz, turning another page.

"Sweet, food time!" Tucker shouted.

"Food that-a-way!" Jack yelled, turning the car violently off of the highway.

Danny nodded, glancing at Maddie with a smile before returning his attention to the roof. Maddie's heart skipped a beat. He wasn't talking, then.

She had known this would upset him, but it had been… what was it, nine years since they had left? She had hoped he could handle it. In fact, she still thought he could. After the most resent of Danny's tri-yearly checkups, Ryan had suggesting that they bring Danny back to Friendship for awhile, but they had been putting it off. They didn't want to put their baby boy through that anguish, if they knew it was for the best.

Nine years ago, spectral levels had begun to drop worldwide-- except for in Idaho, especially Friendship, where they rose drastically. As the official ectologists of Idaho, it was the Fentons' responsibility to find the cause of the phenomenon. The Director of the Ghost Research Department had been very forgiving of their absence in Friendship after the accident; even his long-lasting patience was wearing thin, however, as their time away neared ten years.

Maddie and Jack had been dying of curiosity, but stayed away for the sake of the children. What if Danny relapsed? Even so, Maddie constantly worried about her family in Friendship—a sister, brother-in-law, and four nieces and nephews, as well as a number of other relatives in the outlying towns— constantly facing ghost attacks.

When Sophie almost lost her baby, Maddie's worry skyrocketed. It was the last straw; she talked it over with Jack that very night, and they decided to return to Friendship as soon as possible.

* * *

AN: Sorry this was so late; I was busy with work, school, and extra-curricular class-things. HOWEVER I have started the next chapter, THEREFORE you shouldn't be angry with me. 


	5. Day 2: Restaurant

Divided by Two

Chapter Five: Restaurant

In a few minutes they were seated on velveteen and oak chairs, attempting to read their menus in the dim light. "How was the end of the school year, Danny?" Maddie asked conversationally. _Danny, talk to me…_

He made a face by wrinkling his nose, sticking out his tongue and mock-gagging with his hands around his throat. At his silence, Maddie's heart seemed to sink with a terrible, sick sensation, like the ground falling out from under her with no way of seeing the bottom.

"It was that bad, huh? Want to talk about it?" she coaxed gently. She was so worried about him. What if he- She couldn't lose him. _Never again, _she thought fiercely, _it will never happen again. I won't let it!_

He shook his head, slumping down with a sigh. She would walk a million miles, fight ghosts and give up everything she owned if only she could keep him safe, but how could she keep him safe from... _this_? She felt like getting down on her knees and begging him to speak, but she knew that wouldn't help. Instead, she began to formulate more questions in her head. She would get him to talk, she _would_.

The waiter arrived before Maddie could pry any more. He was a young man, perhaps a senior in high school or a freshman at college, with dark hair and blue eyes. She couldn't help smiling at the resemblance to Danny, and she wondered if Danny would look like him in a few years. "My name is John, and I'll be serving you tonight. Are you ready to order?" the young man asked.

There were negative responses from all around the table, and John left with a smile. When Maddie turned back to Danny, he was studying his menu intently. She reluctantly opened her own.

John reappeared after a period of silent contemplation, and took Jazz, Sam and Maddie's orders without deviation from the standard procedure. Then the young man turned to Tucker.

"I'd like a medium rare steak, and a cheeseburger, cooked the same- no veggies, please, I'm a carnivore- and the Chinese chicken." Tucker said cheerfully, with nothing in his voice or expression to suggest that he might understand the oddity of his order.

John scribbled the order down as Tucker spoke, and then looked up at him. "Uh… Medium-rare steak; medium-rare, plain cheeseburger; and the Chinese chicken?" he asked, his eyes wide but the rest of his face disguising his astonishment well.

Tucker nodded. "Don't look so surprised," he added with a grin, "Jack hasn't ordered yet."

Jack ordered so much that John had to use two order-slips for him. After about the third full meal, his eyebrows began moving progressively farther up his face with each new item. When Jack was done ordering, John listed it all back at him, looking like he was fighting a laugh when Jack said that yes, he really did want all of that.

The waiter turned to Danny, a laugh still in his eyes. "Cheeseburger, please," Danny requested softly, pointing to it on the menu. Maddie's head jolted up, and she found herself grinning in relief. He was talking. She said a short prayer of thanks in her mind, thanking the Lord for her child's health.

"How would you like it cooked?" John asked. Danny sat very still, staring at him, his head tilted slightly to the side. Maddie felt a twinge of worry inside of her overwhelming relief. "How do you want your burger cooked?" the waiter repeated after a long silence. Danny continued to watch him, a question written across his face.

Slowly, finally, Danny slowly shook his head. "Sorry," he whispered, giving the waiter a weak smile, "I didn't catch that." His words had a strange lilt to them, and the slow drawl of them reminded Maddie of something, tugging at her memory with a persistent sense of trouble. The words were spoken with the wrong tempo, and had stresses in the wrong places, she decided, but of what did that remind her…? After a moment, it hit her; he sounded like a kindergartener reciting the Declaration of Independence. That suggested that he didn't understand the words he spoke, but was only saying them because they were what he had been taught to say. That was ridiculous, of course; who would teach a teenager to say that, and why would he need to know it when he could speak English perfectly fine? She was worrying about nothing.

"How do you want your meat cooked?" John asked, beginning to look bemused again. Jazz was sinking down in her seat, as if to distance herself from the group. Danny, still silent, looked at Maddie, a "please" in his eyes and his face blank with confusion.

"Medium-well, please," Maddie told the waiter, smiling apologetically at John while her heart broke. She was worrying about nothing, she told herself firmly. This didn't mean anything. He was fine.

The smile Danny gave her was a silent thank you; but where it normally would have sent a full, happy feeling through her, today it only vanished into the aching hole in her heart.

AN: More of their restaurant visit next chapter; hopefully we'll get to Friendship the chapter after that, or the one after that. I have to eat my words now: Phantom won't be showing up for a while yet. He'll show up in the third or fourth chapter of Version Double, which means anywhere from seventh to twelfth in this.


	6. Day 2: Counting

AN: I offer my readers my apologies for the long wait, and five words: Ten page Honors research paper. A reminder: Danny just had a mental break down in a restaurant… kinda.

possessed obsession: Thank you for getting my butt in gear.

Divided by Two, Chapter Six: Counting

Sam and Tucker turned to Danny expectantly as soon as the waiter was gone. "Care to explain?" Sam asked, although it wasn't really a question.

The restaurant was the sort of place that was always heavy with whispers and awkward silences, and Danny knew that any untoward actions and the weight of the strict atmosphere would be set on him. He didn't want to attract attention.

He looked across the table at Jazz, a comfortingly still presence. He wanted her to come to him, to help him and hold him, without having to do anything to fetch her. He knew that she would only help him if he asked, so he took a deep breath and stood, flinching when the eyes of his family and friends followed the action. He walked around the table to Jazz, hoping he looked normal, his eyes darting around to other tables.

Finally, he reached Jazz and stood behind her, restlessly moving his weight from one foot to another and twisting the edge of his shirt as if to rip it. Jazz didn't look up, pretending still that her placemat was more interesting than anything her family did. The corners of his lips twitched down without his permission, and his eyes burned. He tried to speak, but the breath came out without sound. He swallowed, and his throat hurt because its muscles were so tight with the need to cry. He tugged on Jazz's sleeve, feeling foolish from the childlike gesture. "Jazz," he pleaded, his voice breaking apart in the middle of her name.

She looked up at him with a sigh, slowly folded her napkin, and stood. "Come on, then," she snapped, heading towards the front doors. Danny's shoulders sagged with relief, and he hurried after her.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Jazz turned and pulled him into a hug. "Shh, shh, allkay Wraith, shh, allkay," she murmured, rubbing his back soothingly. He leaned into the comfort, shaking now that he felt safe. Jazz held him until the shivering stopped, and then gently ordered, "Un."

Danny took a deep breath, and whispered "Un," proud that his voice only shook a little.

Jazz said, "One." Danny suddenly didn't feel as sure of himself, because the word fell right out of his head. "One," Jazz repeated firmly.

"One."

Jazz pulled Danny away from herself to smile at him encouragingly. "Duo."

It was easier now. "Duo."

"Two."

"Two," Danny replied obediently.

"Freis."

"Freis, three," Danny finished quickly, smiling weakly at his sister.

"Good job, Danny," Jazz said quietly, and Danny was momentarily comforted. The feeling was short-lived. He still had to explain his breakdown to Sam and Tucker.


	7. Day 2: Explanations

Danny cursed as his shirt ripped.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed from behind him in affronted tones. He quickly stood from the bench and turned to face her, his face flushing. She was staring at him with wide eyes, still holding open the glass door of the restaurant. Tucker, still inside the lobby, was trying to peer around her.

"Sorry," Danny said sheepishly, "I- um." He held out the bottom of his shirt, revealing a rip that was over four inches long. "It tore."

Sam sighed and stepped away from the door, finally letting Tucker through. He gaped at the sight of Danny's shirt. "Geeze, how'd you do that?" Tucker asked. Sam elbowed him with a glare. "What?"

"First explanation first, second explanation second," she snapped. A few years ago, Danny would have thought she was angry with him and Tucker; but he had learned to read people better as he aged, and he was pretty sure that she was really just worried.

Danny pasted on a clueless and entirely fake smile. "Would you like to sit?" he asked, gesturing towards the bench he had just vacated. Sam sat, scowling. Tucker shook his head, choosing instead to lean against the wall. Danny opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again. A bright color caught his eye, and he turned his head to see a sky alight with sunset colors. "Isn't the sky nice tonight?" he hedged nervously.

Tucker raised an eyebrow, and Sam rubbed at the bridge of her nose as if fighting a headache. Danny's fake smile dropped away, and he lowered his gaze to the concrete at his feet, studying the bits and pieces of gravel and trash in the cracks. How to start? "I… uh, you probably want me to tell you what happened just now, huh?"

When they didn't answer, he glanced up at them from under his lashes. They were staring at him impassively, waiting. "Yeah, so… um… did I ever mention that English is my second language?" he asked, knowing perfectly well that he hadn't. There was no answer, and he shivered in the chill of their silence. He _knew_ this was a bad idea.

"My nanny was, y'know, an outsider- traveler- person from another country- whatever, and she only spoke Spanish- um, and Japanese, 'cause she lived there for four years, but mostly Spanish because she was from Spain. So I mostly just learned a mixed up Spanish thing with a bit of Japanese thrown in and an English word here and there, and then I still only spent time with Jazz and-" He stopped short and looked up at them again, still not lifting his head. The two were staring at him, faces blank with shock.

He took a deep breath and continued, much calmer this time. "My parents were busy with their inventions, so mostly I only got to talk to my nanny and the other kids she watched. They all spoke the same Spanish-Japanese-English gibberish that I did, so it wasn't until she died that I realized that most people spoke English. I learned a little bit, but I was four and basically learning a foreign language, so it was just-"

He cut himself off, and then started again. "It was slow. But the point is, English was my second language, and it tends to get all mixed up in my head when I'm nervous. That's what just happened, because I'm really, really nervous about this whole thing. I- bad stuff happened back then, and I really don't want to go back and I'm- I'm really freaked out, alright?"

He stood silently for a long moment, admiring the orange glow of the sunset and trying not to think about the reactions of his friends. When no screaming seemed forthcoming, he headed for the doors. "The food's probably come by now," he muttered.

The incident wasn't mentioned for the rest of the evening.


	8. Day 2: Freeze Field

Sam Manson might have called the rest of their meal awkward, but chose 'maddeningly, wretchedly tense' when she wrote her diary entry for that night (because, unlike Danny, she was willing to write in one without a teacher's enforcement). She also used such words as 'forced pleasantry', 'smiles as fake as my parents'', 'agonizing concern', and 'evading dreaded truth'. That should be enough to reveal the aftereffects of the incident to my clever readers- although, as usual, Sam was being a bit melodramatic.

The rest of the drive was spent in relative normality, mostly because Danny quickly removed himself from the conversation by turning his headphones up and sticking his nose in a book. He spent the next three hours listening to music that he didn't hear and reading words that may as well been in Russian for all the meaning he squeezed out of them. A few times he glanced up to find Sam or Tucker watching him intently, but they looked away as soon as they noticed his glance.

Finally, after far too long and not nearly long enough, Danny saw a distant glow lighting up the night sky in a shade of green that could only come from a ghost shield. A few minutes later, Sam, Tucker and Jazz were pressing their noses to the windows, saying- something- to the adults, although Danny couldn't hear them over his headphones. A few minutes after _that_, he realized that it wasn't a shield at all, but huge metal towers looming like giant cages, with a ball of flickering, flaming anti-ectoplasm on top of each. It was then that he saw the flickers of pale blue in the orbs, and he mentally cursed. He gave his mother and Sam guilty looks, as if they might have heard his thought, then pulled off his headphones, stood up, and moved quickly to the storage cabinet. "…famous anti-ghost towers," his mother was saying, "The Guys in White worked on them for years before they were finally put up about two years ago. An amazing accomplishment- they actually freeze the ectoplasm in ghosts who are stupid enough to go too close to them, but, unfortunately, they can't afford to keep them up all of the time, only at night- Danny?"

He turned, his arms full of blankets, and gave her a weak grin. "The stupid things always send me into a fit of the shakes," he explained, leading all of the other members of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle to give him odd looks. He felt his cheeks go pink as realized that he should have just kept his mouth shut.

"When have you been around them before?" Maddie asked.

At the same time, Tucked asked, "Why would they affect you if you're a human?"

"Errr- the Guys had them when I had to go in for ecto-poisoning- remember, Mom? And they affect me because it's impossible to completely remove ectoplasm that's been merged into the DNA- why are you looking at me like that?" he asked his mother, because she was looking at him as if he had gone insane.

"They did remove it all, Danny, they said-"

"They did not!" he protested, in affronted tones. "They performed about a bazillion tests, and stuck all sorts of anti-ghost shields and stuff around me to see how they'd affect me, and did a bunch of junk to make sure it wouldn't make me get sick or anything, but they never actually did anything to get it out!" He sat down, beginning to settle the blankets around himself. "_Honestly_, I thought they told you- you've never said anything when the ghost alarms go off around me and stuff-" he stopped speaking when he saw that his mother's jaw was hanging open, and even Jazz was looking at him oddly.

"That's why they go off around you?" Jazz asked, "And when did you go to the-"

"We still have the papers saying you had it removed, and the alarms have certainly never-" His mom stopped, because Jazz had started speaking at the same moment as her.

"They lied, I guess. They've been known to do that." Danny tugged his headphones back on and tugging a blanket over his head, successfully cutting off anymore conversation. Just as his CD began playing the next song, the air began to chill. By the end of the first verse, he was shuddering. Why hadn't it ended yet? It had never lasted so long-

With a shock of clarity, he thought, "But this one is bigger, isn't it? So it'll last longer-" and, with horror, "-and probably be stronger, too-" just as the air seemed to drop another ten degrees, and his hands and feet started to lose feeling. He got number and colder as the seconds went on, and his teeth were chattering so firmly and incessantly that his jaws hurt, and he tucked his hands into his armpits in an effort to warm them. It wasn't until near the end of the four minute song that the air finally began to warm, and he sighed with relief when the air was warm enough that he felt safe pulling off the blankets. His headphones caught on the blanket and slipped off.

"Danny!" Jazz yelped, her eyes wide. "You're practically blue-"

The next few minutes were spent by Danny watched in amusement as Jazz, Sam and Maddie raced about the RV, making hot chocolate and piling more blankets on him.

It was hard to talk around his chattering teeth, but he managed to smugly say, "I told you so," anyway.

AN: Would you believe me if I told you that the entire car ride, restaurant and all, from Amity to Friendship, was supposed to take one chapter and be completely uneventful? Amazing how things keep popping up…


	9. Day 2: Finally Friendship

/2

Chapter Nine: Finally Friendship

It was a little over half an hour more before they reached the Amity Fenton's home. Most of that time was spent in long streets of dark, empty houses- some of them with open doors or broken windows, none of them with cars in their driveways, all of them with rubble littering their walkways. They had been evacuated a few years ago while the Freeze Field was built, and none of their owners had chosen to return to the ghost-infested town after the government declared the area safe a year later. These days, the area was used as a battle-zone by the GW and ghosts, and civilians generally avoided it (at this point in Maddie's story, the four teens shared a meaningful look). Maddie and Jack, of course, weren't civilians, so they saw no reason to go around the long way.

They all stumbled sluggishly out of the car, stretching and rubbing at their eyes. In a few moments, they were inside the brightly lit house and being greeted by a man and two teenagers, a boy and a girl. The man sent the teens out to get the rest of the luggage, and then led Maddie and Jack into the room to their right. "Welcome to the guest bedroom, which we reserve for only our most beloved guests. Our less favorites go on the couch," he said.

Danny half-smiled sleepily at him. "You say that to everyone," he protested, remembering as he said it that it was so.

The man laughed, "So I do! What a good memory you have, Fetch! Now, if the rest of you will just follow me up the stairs, here, I'll show you your rooms." He turned to the two teenagers, who were just coming back through the door. "Leave them here, won't you? We'll sort them all out in the morning." He headed up the steps, which were directly across from the door, and the six teens trailed after him in single file, like ducklings after their mother.

At the top of the stairs was a balcony hallway, open to the level below them. There was a door to either end, three doors on the side across from them, and one to their right that was on the side closest to them- six doors in all. "The doors on the ends both lead to bathrooms- with four-going-on-five kids, we need them.

"In order, from far right to left: Jamie's room, he's already asleep, one of you boys will be sharing with him; a bathroom; Jackie's room (that there's Jackie," he pointed to the girl, "and you," he pointed to Sam, "will stay with her- take her in and show her where she's sleeping, won't you, Jack?); that's the tw- the spare room, the other boy gets that one, or you can both sleep with Jamie, whatever Fetch sees fit; then that's Joseph and Brutus' room; and on the far left is another bathroom.

"Don't bother with names and junk yet, I'm sure you're too tired to remember much, just go ahead and get settled in. And go to sleep, Brutus, you know Joe won't sleep until you're in with him, and he'll be grouchy tomorrow- uh, feel free to use either bathroom, shampoo's in the showers if you need it. I think that's it!" He grinned around at them. "Good night, Fetch, Brutus, Jackie, Girl, and Boy!" He turned and walked back downstairs.

"Wow," said Tucker, "He's definitely a Fenton."

The boy and girl were rolling their eyes at each other. "He's bad with guests," explained the girl, "so normally Mom would be overseeing things, but she's sick, so…" She turned to Sam, "Come on, Goth."

The boy sighed as the door closed behind the girls. "Right, so, any preference for rooms? Dah-_nny_," he said, with a soft "ah" and an upwards lilt on the "nny", "is it alright if you sleep, in your old room, or…?" He let it trail off in a question.

"That's fine," Danny replied, too tired to care. He had a feeling that all of this would be a sleepy blur in the morning.

"Then you- what is your name?"

"Tucker Foley."

"You, Tucker, get to sleep with the baby. Don't worry, he's toilet trained and usually sleeps through the night. It's that door," he pointed to the door on the side closest to the stairs. "Do you need any help settling in, either of you?"

They turned him down, and they were all settled into their own rooms within a few minutes- no one wanted to bother with showers or unpacking after the long car-ride. Danny walked into his old room by himself, deciding that even his teeth could wait for the morning. There were two beds in the room, one in the left corner and one in the right; he went to the left one in a movement that was still habitual.

He yawned, and his senses dulled into a sleepy haze as he sat down on the bed. In his exhaustion, he half-slept; and in this state he dreamed that it was ten years ago, and that gentle hands were coming to help him change for bed. The dream was soothing and sweet for a minute, and a smile tugged at his lips; but the hands didn't come, and didn't come...

He came fully awake with an almost painful start. It was as if he had dreamed, while on the edge of true sleep, that the ground had fallen away beneath his feet, and as if that had woken him into a frightened awareness. The lazy warmth of only moments before left him as swiftly and sharply as if he had stepped out into the snow. Danny backed up until his back was pressed into the corner, and he pulled his knees up to his chest. He rested his forehead on his knees, fighting against the sobs tearing at his throat. He was fourteen; too old to cry for a nine-year-old grief.

He shivered, suddenly colder and lonelier than he had felt in years, and he wondered if he would sleep at all this night.

* * *

AN: If the story cooperates, Phantom should be showing up in about two chapters, possibly less- but Danny won't see him. 

This chapter was named in honor of the long car ride. Speaking of titles: you should be seeing "P1" at the beginning of each chapter title now. That's "Part One"- I've decided to break this story into sections. I may change my mind, though...


	10. Day 3: Fetch, Fenton

* * *

/2, Part 1

Chapter Ten: Fetch Fenton

When Danny stumbled down the stairs in the morning, it was only with much yawning and rubbing at the too soft, too dark skin around his eyes. Still half-asleep, he turned and walked down the corridor beside the stairs, coming into the gigantic living room, which was also a kitchen, which was also a dining room. He collapsed into a seat at the table with a groan.

"MORNING, FETCH!" A man shouted from behind him.

Danny yelped and jerked around to face the sudden noise, wincing as he clutched at his pounding head. He scowled at the tall man behind him, cursing the universe for giving such a skinny man such a big voice. "Morning, Uncle Bruno," he muttered with a glare.

"And how will you be breaking your fast this fine morning, Wraith?" the man continued, apparently oblivious to Danny's case of early-morning grouchies. "We have bacon and eggs; pancakes; sausage; peppers with eggs; and all of the above again, cooked vegan-style." The brown-haired man grinned boisterously.

"Toast, please." Danny slumped forward onto his hands in a poor attempt to keep out the light.

"For Gods sake, Dad, let him wake up first. Good morning, all," a much more subdued voice said from the direction of the doorway. Danny turned and saw the boy from the previous night holding a little blond boy.

"Is Mommy awake?" the little boy asked sleepily.

"Yes, she's reading in our bedroom. Would you like to take her some breakfast with Brutus?" the man, Uncle Bruno, asked in a much gentler tone. Although the words seemed to be directed at the little boy, he looked at the older boy questioningly.

"Yeah!" the child exclaimed, and the older boy nodded.

"What do you think Mommy would like for breakfast, Jamie?" the older boy asked the younger. He moved to set the little boy down, but the little boy grabbed onto his black hair. "Ow! Jamie, I have to put you down to get Mom's breakfast!"

"No, up!" Jamie yelled, clinging even more tightly to the older boy, Brutus', hair.

"Oh, for- Dad, will you fix the food? We'll just bring it in, I guess."

The girl from the night before walked in and began loading one of the plates with vegan food without even nodding at any of the other people in the kitchen. Jazz trailed in behind her, stopping with a start when she saw Danny. "Danny? What are you doing up so early?"

Danny looked at the clock, which proudly declared, "6:38". He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I couldn't sleep," he grumbled. "I figured I'd just get and early start." Hoping to change the topic before Jazz started psychoanalyzing him, he asked, "Where's Tucker? Isn't he usually an early riser?"

"Playing on his GameBoy upstairs," Jazz said. "Danny, why-"

"Actually, I'm now downstairs. I smelled meat and coffee." Tucker said cheerfully, walking over and setting down next to Danny. "Gimme bacon and sausage: no vegetarianism here!"

"Yuck," said the blond girl, wrinkling her nose, "do you have any idea how unhealthy that junk is for you?" She had sat down across from where Tucker now was sitting.

"Hardly! It makes me strong and- oh, hey, Danny, I wanted to ask you something!" Tucker turned to Danny in the middle of his sentence, with a surprised look on his face. "I can't believe I almost forgot. What's with the weird nickname?"

"Huh?" Danny stared at him blankly. Nickname? "I don't know what you mean."

"You know, Catch or whatever-it-was."

"Catch? …Oh, Fetch!" Danny eyes lit up in understanding. "That's just what people called me when I was little," he said, glancing away from Tucker when he heard heavy footsteps at the doorway.

Tucker's eyes glittered mischievously. "I sense an embarrassing baby story…" he trailed off meaningfully, and waited for a response. He waited. He waited. He waited. He waited. "Well?" he finally burst out, when Jack Fenton had come into the room, filled a plate with food, and sat down at the end of the table.

"Well what?" Danny asked, turning to his friend. Brutus and Jamie came back into the room just then, and there was a short period where the kitchen was chaotic from the attempted gathering of food for a small child.

When it was a bit quieter, Tucker asked, "Why do they call you Fetch? Did people used to throw things for you to fetch or something?" He suddenly got a picture of a young Danny wearing dog-ears and chasing a stick. [1

Jack snickered, "Yeah, but that's not why we called him Fetch."

Danny turned pink. "Dad! I was, like, three when I would catch junk-"

"So why were you called Fetch, then?" Tucker repeated, trying to keep them on track. He had already turned on the voice-recorder on his ultra-high-tech PDA. "Come on, give me blackmail material," he begged Jack.

"It's not a big deal," Danny muttered. "It's just… um… well, when I was born, you see, I was kind of… a bit…"

"He was as see-through as a little phantom, all cute and flimsly!" Jack declared, roaring with laughter ("The word's 'flimsy', Dad," Jazz interjected). "And so I said, 'this boy's so see-through, he's not even like a phantom- he's like a phantom's fetch'! So after that, we all called him Fetch. Almost named him that, too," he added, thoughtfully, "but his mother wouldn't allow it. Said he'd get picked on."

Tucker snickered, but still looked confused. "What's a phantom's fetch?" he asked.

"A fetch is another word for doppelganger, wraith, or double," Uncle Bruno said, seeming to believe this was a complete explanation, but Tucker still looked blank.

"Ghost-story time!" Jack yelled gleefully.

Bruno sighed. "No ghost story," he said, "Jamie's scared of them. A Fetch is, in the simplest definition, an apparition sent in the image of a living person to warn that living person of his or her impending death, and to 'fetch' their spirit back to the afterlife."

Tucker paused, "Oh. That's a rather morbid nickname."

"Yeah, well, at least he wasn't named Jacqueline Sacajawea," said the blond girl. "Or James Bartleby. Or Sophocles Joseph. Or Brutus Jonathon. All 'J's, and all with a weird first or middle name. Honestly? Fetch is better."

"Your middle name is Sacajawea?" Danny asked, startled. "I didn't know that. I mean, I knew it started with 'S', but I assumed it was Susanna or Sarah or something…"

"I'm James Bartleby!" shouted little Jamie. "It's a big name for a big little boy!"

"I actually like that one," said Danny. "It has a nice ring to it."

"Yeah, well, you're nuts too." Jacqueline muttered with a scowl. "Of course," she added nastily, "who wouldn't be if they'd had what happened to you happen to them. Only a little older than Jamie, weren't you, when your-"

"Jacqueline Sacajawea Fenton, you close your mouth and go to your room this instant!" Bruno bellowed, "How dare you speak to our guests that way! Give Danny an apology, right now!"

"Sorry," she muttered, not meaning it. She turned and stomped up the stairs.

"I'm sorry about that, Dah-_nee_," said Bruno quietly, pronouncing Danny's name with the same strange lilt as Brutus had used. "She's awful in the mornings. I don't mean to excuse her behavior, but she really is better most of the time…"

"It's fine," Danny replied very softly, studying the tabletop.

Bruno seemed as if he was going to say something else, but apparently thought better of it; even Tucker held his questions, for fear of being yelled at in that huge voice. Danny finished his meal in silence, then said, still very softly, "I'm going to go try and sleep some more, okay? I'll see you all later."

* * *

[1 Tucker's remark and mental image are dedicated to Dark Angel Kisses.

A/N: possessed obsession mentioned that she (?) was having trouble understanding the upstairs layout. So, I bring you:

http:// katherinecat. deviantart. com/ art/ Friendship- House- 75429339

Remove the spaces to go to the upstairs floorplan! I'll add the first floor later, too.

Next chapter: PHANTOM. Probably.


	11. Day 3: Phantom

A/N: I forewarn you: this is the shortest chapter yet, and it's nothing at all like I expected.

/2. P1. C11. Phantom

---------

He had hair the color of sugar and spider webs, and glowing green eyes that were like nothing in the human realm- at least, nothing living. His skin was surprisingly tan for a ghost, although it couldn't be called bronzed; his form was strong but lean. He wore a black jumpsuit; a big, white belt; long, white gloves; and white boots that were even bigger than Sam's. His name was Phantom now, although it hadn't entirely been that before… before what?...

...He had to protect, and that meant he had to fight. So he _would_ fight.

He would fight them all; and he _did_.

_He won._

------------------

They were like toys to him, or the medals that Human children always won. It was a game, and it went like this: Ghost attacks Human, fight Ghost (to protect Human?), Human survives healthy, WIN. That was all; what the Human thought about the whole thing didn't really matter. Then he left the Human wherever it happened to be at the time, because he was done with it; much like the makeshift bases in a children's impromptu baseball game (stick, stone, old glass bottle, pile of dirt).

Except for one, of course, but that one was Gone (dead; gone; worse than a Ghost, and they all thought and said it like _that_, with a glaring capital to make listener look up and pay attention, shivering because what if they went Gone?).

Yes; they were like toys to Phantom, except for the one who was Gone.

----------------------------

This time was, might have been, should have been no different than the other Games. The Ghost attacked two Humans walking in the park, and Phantom knew in the way that he often did, so he went to fight. It was an easy fight, just Technus again (honestly, in a _park_; how stupid was he?), and the Humans were so frightened that they didn't get in his way (they sometimes did, trying to attack him help him get his autograph). They were strangers, so he assumed that it must be the first time they'd ever seen a Ghost.

Then, as he flew away, the male Human said, "Wait until Danny hears about _this_!"

It should have been no different from the other Games, but it suddenly, frighteningly, heart-stoppingly _was_.

---------------------

The ghost spun around so quickly that Tucker flinched, afraid that it was going to attack him. "Who?" it hissed, hovering so closely to Tucker that he was afraid to move lest he touch it.

"Wha'...?" Tucker slurred, his mind blank.

"Danny who?" it repeated, threateningly tense.

"Danny Fenton," said Sam, "whose parents, by the way, are ghost hunters, so you won't be able to-"

Phantom never found out what he wouldn't be able to do, however, because he had vanished.

-------------------------


	12. Day 3: Meeting the Ghost Writer

/2: P1: C12: Meeting the Ghost Writer

Danny scowled at the notebook in front of him, ripping the top, eraser-marked page out and crumpling it up into a ball. "Isn't the point of a journal to write things where people can't see them?" he grumbled to himself, tossing the paper ball onto the grass beside his resting place. He was lying on his stomach in the grass at the park, trying to write his first journal entry.

"Yes, that's true; why can't you?" an amused voice asked.

Danny turned quickly, making himself dizzy with the sudden movement. The person behind him was a dark shape against the sun. "I can't see you," Danny remarked.

The stranger dropped to a crouch next to Danny. Now that the sun wasn't behind him, Danny could make out his features. He was pale, and thin in a way that was closer to gaunt than the usual gawkiness of teenagers. He had dark, messy hair that needed a trim; green eyes; and a scraggly goatee. "The sun in the skies was blinding your eyes," he said, his expression suggesting that it was a question.

"Yeah," Danny replied slowly, uncertain of what he should say. "Thanks. Um, for sitting down, I mean."

The young man shrugged and smiled. "Are you now fighting, you and your writing?" he asked, gesturing towards the book.

"Yes," Danny said, making a face at the notebook. "I'm supposed to be writing daily journal entries this summer, for my teacher to read, but I don't know what to do. It's stupid assignment."

"And why are you here, in Friendship so dear?"

Danny didn't respond for a moment, thrown by the sudden topic change. "Well, my aunt is pregnant, and..." Danny went on for a few moments, explaining the reasons for their trip. He stopped after giving much less information than he might have given, feeling embarrassed by the intent stare of the stranger.

"That's not the end, my dear new friend. Tell me your tale until words fail," the stranger said, still smiling.

Danny hesitated, confused by the interest, but launched back into the story, trying to fill in all the holes he had left. He didn't mention anything about his breakdown at the restaurant, however. He was certainly not going to tell that to a stranger!

When Danny had finished, the man sat silently for a moment, studying Danny thoughtfully. "You will write that in full, for your journal to school," he said.

Danny stared at him for a few minutes, uncertain of what he meant. Then, understanding, he grinned. "You think my story about how we came here would be a good journal entry?"

The man nodded. "Tell your tale. You won't fail."

"Thanks!" Danny said, still grinning. "Talking to you really helped me sort it all out!"

The man held out his hand. "My name is Garrett Wren."

Danny grabbed it and shook. "I'm Danny Fenton."

The man stood. "I will see you again." He turned to leave.

Danny felt startled again, by the unexpected action. "Oh, um... bye?"

The man looked back, smiled and waved, then left.

Danny, shaking his head, turned back to his notebook, and began to write.

* * *

AN: I sincerely apologize for the long wait. I was sick, and then I had to catch up on missed schoolwork. Also, I procrastinated and couldn't get this chapter to come out right. Once again, you have PossessedObsession to thank for getting my butt in gear as far as writing goes. 


	13. Day 3: Worried

Divided by Two: Part One [Revelation: Chapter 13 [Worried 

Danny frowned down at the shirt in his hands as he walked down the hallway between the foyer and the main room. After getting back from the park, he had stopped to drop his notebook and pencil in his room, and spotted the shirt lying on the floor. His plans to drag his friends to the arcade suddenly moved to an hour later in his mental schedule. He'd have to dig out his sewing bag from the junk drawer in the Assault Vehicle. He'd grown out of his nervous habit of tugging on and, more often than not, eventually ripping his shirts years ago- or, at least, he'd thought that he had grown out of it- so it was probably buried pretty deeply. Back when a ripped shirt was a common event, his mom had made him learn basic sewing and always carry around a little bag with a needle, thread and a small pair of scissors in it. When he had seemingly dropped the habit, they'd stuffed the bag in the junk drawer. "Just in case," Maddie had said, despite Danny's protests that he was "over it". 

It had taken him a good fifteen minutes to dig out the bag (he had no idea how his dad managed to jam that many action figures in one drawer) and now he was looking forward to talking to Sam and Tucker (or, if they weren't back from wherever they'd run off to, watching television) while he fixed the gaping tear. It was a good thing he hadn't changed his style of clothing much in the last few years, he contemplated absently, because the only colors of thread in the bag were red and white, if he remembered correctly. These rather mundane thoughts were all he was concentrating on as he stepped into the kitchen, and he wasn't expecting the shout that met him. 

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. "We were so worried- the ghost said that- and we though he went after you, because he just vanished, and-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Danny protested, pushing her gently away. "What ghost?"

"After you fell asleep, we decided to explore the town," Tucker said, in his Report Voice (Strange things tended to happen to them, and, after awhile, they'd all learned to push aside their emotions enough to pass on pertinent information swiftly and clearly. One day Tucker had absently started speaking with that monotonous clarity while explaining his and Danny's tardiness to class to a teacher, and Danny had cut him off with a sharp whisper of 'not your Report Voice, Tucker!'. Tucker had turned and given him an incredulous stare, then started laughing. 'Report Voice?' he'd chuckled, 'God, we really do get into trouble to much if it has a name now!' The teacher had, unfortunately, not been as amused as Tucker. Despite the long detention, they'd all fallen into the habit of calling that particular speech pattern the 'Report Voice'). 

"When we were walking through the park, a male ghost flew over the hill nearby," Tucker continued. "We just stood there, because we were shocked and absolutely terrified. It saw us and stopped to go on a long rant about its plans to take over the world through the internet. It kept telling us to bow down before it, because we were such 'lowly humans'. It called itself Technus, Master of Technology. Then another ghost flew over the hill. This one had white hair and was dressed in black. It was about our age in appearance, and male. Technus called it 'ghost child', but I don't know its name. It attacked Technus, and knocked Technus out with one ectoblast. It then made a round, green hole in the air and tossed Technus through it. 

"It turned and started to fly away. I said something about how awesome you'd probably think it all was. It turned around very quickly, and I thought it was going to attack me, but all it did was ask who Danny was. Sam said that we meant Danny Phantom, and that it had better stay away from you because your parents are ghost hunters. Then it vanished, and we came home. We were afraid that it had vanished to attack you, so we were worried when you weren't here."

Danny didn't respond for a long time. Finally, he said, "I was at the park, too. I was working on my journal entry, that's all. It just took a long time because I didn't know what to write, but I met this guy named Garrett who helped me. Then I had to dig my sewing stuff out of the car so I could fix my shirt. No ghosts at all, and, as you can see, I'm fine." He stopped, and then added, with a grin, "Your day has been much more interesting than mine, huh?"

"Yeah. It was so cool when it shot off that blast, and BAM! The other ghost went right down. K.O.'d, man!" Tucker said gleefully. "It was so awesome, I wish you were there!"

"I wonder why he wanted to know who we were talking about, though?" Sam said, thoughtfully.

"Maybe he meant another Danny. That would explain why he vanished when you told him my full name; he just wasn't interested anymore." Danny suggested.

"Yeah, maybe..." Sam said doubtfully. She took a deep breath and shook her head as if to clear it of unwanted thoughts, and then turned to Danny with a mischievous glint in her eye. "So, you mentioned _sewing_...?"

"Hey," Tucker exclaimed, "that's right, he did! So now you write in a diary _and _sew? Man, I think we need to get you outside and doing some manly things, like burping and video games, before you turn into a girl," he teased.

Danny groaned. "Thanks a lot, Sam," he said sarcastically. He joined in with his friend's light-hearted bantering, but his mind was on other things. Why was a ghost asking about him?

AN: Wow, this took less time than I thought! DarkAngelKisses' help (thank you very much, by the way) and an offhand remark from my brother made my planning go much faster than I expected. I still don't have everything cleared up, but I've managed enough to write a chapter or two without problems. Oh, and also, a certain wonderful Dark!Danny/Danny story called "Dark" (which can be found on my Favorites List, and I highly recommend) inspired me to write more. Read it!

A note on this chapter: Pay careful attention to the pronouns people use, because it may give you an idea of the way they view things.

On Names: I named GhostWriter Garrett Wren for two reasons; one, it had the initials GW, and two, it sounded like a good Starving Artist name. Garrett is a bit of a pun; it makes me think of a poor writer living out of an attic (or garret) in Victorian England. This is a bit of a nod to my imagined past for him, which may or may not come up in the future.

I thought that, while we're talking about names, I could address the title of this story. I don't know if any one understands it or not. It comes from this thought: Usually, when you add one and one, it makes two, but occasionally you add one person to one person and end up with a pair- that is, a single pair, or one pair, which is really one thing. If you divide two things by two, you get one and one; but if you divide a pair... you may get one and one, but at the same time you're getting one half of a pair. So do you get one or one half? The equation of Danny and Phantom in this story is even more complicated than that (I'll go into it later), but that's the basis of it. What is the answer to Divided by Two?

On Gone: In the Real World, there are two options: Alive or Dead. In this story, things are a little more complicated. As far as Alive goes, nothing really changes; but Dead has two options: you can either become a Ghost, or move on. I needed a way to differentiate between the two, because I thought it was likely that Ghosts would have words for the difference. So, both are called "Dead", but when you're dead you're either a Ghost or Gone. Gone is to Ghosts what Dead is to Humans; you've vanished and moved on, and are lost to all of those who loved you. They're just as scared of Gone as Humans are of Death.


	14. Day 3: Dinner Debates

Warnings: Language

Divided by Two: Part One (Revelations): Chapter 14 (Dinner Debates)

Little of interest happened between lunch and dinner. When Sam, Tucker and Danny came home from the arcade, Jack told them that Jackie (the teenage girl) and Sophocles Joseph (the second-oldest boy) were staying over at friends' houses for the night. "Sacajawea at a girl's house and Sophocles at a boy's, of course. Who knows what they'd get up to the other way around, eh?" Danny's uncle, Bruno, had said, winking slyly at Jack and thoroughly embarrassing the remaining teenagers. The trio spent awhile arguing over what to do next, and ended up joining Brutus (the oldest boy) and little James Bartleby in watching Pocahontas until dinner.

It wasn't until dinner that anything particularly interesting happened. Uncle Bruno began it by asking, "Did anything interesting happen to you today?"

Tucker began stuttering out boring activities, in between, "No, no, nothing interesting of unusual, nothing at all," and similar phrases that strongly suggested that he was hiding something (which, of course, he was).

Sam, in an obvious attempt to change the subject, said loudly, "So, Danny, why is it that everyone calls you Fetch here?"

"Did we already explain this?" Jack muttered, confused.

"Only to Tucker," Danny reminded him, then turned to Sam and began the whole explanation anew. "Do you know what a Fetch is, as in Wraith, or Double, or Doppelganger?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "I read a story once with a woman who saw hers in the mirror while her family was out. She was ill by the time her family came home, and died a few hours later. It's an awesome nick name, but why would someone call their kid that?"

"Well, when Danny was born, he was see-through, you see, practically invisible, and-" Bruno began, but he was interrupted by Sam. 

"He was _see-through_? How on earth did _that _happen?" She demanded, staring at Danny with wide eyes and a twitch of a grin to her lips. The Fentons were known for their crazy lives, and more often than not their stories were hilariously outrageous. 

The adults all hesitated, trading glances. Finally, Maddie spoke, hesitantly. "Well... we think it may have had something to do with the experiments that Jack and I were doing while I was pregnant. We were careful, but it's impossible to work with ectoplasm without a little bit of contamination, and, well..." she shrugged.

Sam and Tucker both sat back, looking disappointed. That was almost normal for the Fenton family and not really funny at all. Their interest was perked again a moment later, however, as they noticed that Danny was squirming uncomfortably, and that Brutus looked furious. 

"You worked in the lab while you were _pregnant_?" Brutus hissed angrily. "Are you maliciously negligent, or just stupid? For God's sake, do you have any _idea_ of what ectoplasmic contamination can do to people, especially children? I don't even want to _think_ about what it might have done to an _unborn infant_!" His voice was steadily rising, and he actually stood from his chair. "No, it couldn't have been stupidity. I know for a fact that they teach about the dangers of working with ectoplasm in the first year of classes for an Ectology degree. So you were just being cruelly careless, then? Risking your child's _life_ because you didn't fucking feel like taking proper precautions?" He leaned toward Maddie, slamming his fists into the table as he loomed over her. "You fucking IDIOTS! What the _hell_ were you thinking?" he snarled.

"I-" Maddie stopped, and swallowed, then opened her mouth again to answer his condemnations.

Her answer was prevented by Uncle Bruno standing and shouting right back at Brutus. "I will not have that sort of language in my house, Brutus! Apologize to Maddie, right now!"

"For what?" Brutus asked coldly. "For yelling at her because she's apparently so selfish that she'll risk her children's lives for a few extra weeks in the lab?"

"For using foul language in front of a lady!" Bruno exclaimed. "And for grievously insulting your aunt!"

"Fine," Brutus replied shortly. He turned to Maddie, his fists clenched at his sides, and bowed formally. "I sincerely apologize for using foul language," he began, conspicuously removing the 'in front of a lady'. His dark hair hung over his eyes and shadowed his face, making him look strangely sinister. "I also apologize for losing my temper and yelling." He stood, and looked Maddie directly in the eyes. "I do not apologize for speaking the truth." 

"Brutus Jonathon Fenton!" Uncle Bruno roared. "Go to your room until you can be civil!" 

Brutus turned and left without a word. Sam and Tucker were left sharing worried glances and looking nervously between Bruno and Danny, half-expecting one of them to start screaming. Despite their fears, the meal passed in complete silence; no one even asked for the butter to be passed. 

XXXX

AN: It's hard to believe that they're only about to start on the third night since the beginning of this story, isn't it? 

Day One: Danny talks to Lancer, finds out they're going on a trip

Day Two: They leave for Friendship, Danny has a breakdown in the restaurant, they reach Friendship

Day Three: Jacqueline throws a fit, they meet Phantom and GhostWriter, Brutus Jonathon throws a fit 

Also, the story that Sam mentions is a real one, but I can't remember where I read it. Some book of fairy tales, probably. 

DarkAngelKisses mentioned that Brutus struck her as having a temper, and I realized that she was right. I didn't expect it to show up so soon, but he dislikes carelessness and cruelty of children. 


	15. Day 4: Obsession

Divided by Two: Part One (Revelations): Chapter 15 (Obsession)

"Will you just let it _drop_?" Tucker snapped at Brutus, the next morning at breakfast. Brutus had been glaring silently at Maddie all morning. "It's not like it did anything to him."

"But it did," Maddie protested miserably. It was the first thing she'd said since dinner. "He was transparent until he was two, and he didn't eat or breathe or even have a heartbeat until he was nearly half a year old, and-" Maddie broke off with a sob. "And-" She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.

"Now see what you've done," Uncle Bruno reprimanded Brutus. "Tucker's right. Just let it drop. It's done and over now."

"No," Brutus said, "it's not. I don't know exactly what it did, but you can't deny that Dah-_nee_'s a strange kid." He glanced at the doorway, as if to make sure that Danny wasn't standing there. "Remember when he pushed that girl down the steps?" he asked, his voice suddenly very quiet.

"Danny did _what_?" Tucker exclaimed.

"Puched a girl down the steps," Uncle Bruno said, turning to Tucker. "Wraith was about four, I guess. We were at church, and he was standing at the top of a flight of stairs with some other children. Fetch's best friend was paying more attention to a little girl than to Wraith, so he (Wraith, I mean) got angry and pushed her down the stairs. She broke her arm." Uncle Bruno paused and sighed. "In Fetch's defense, I don't think he really meant to hurt her. Afterwards, he said that he just wanted her to go away."

"The really strange thing, I thought, was that he did even seem to really see her," Bruno added softly. "He was looking at his friend the whole time. He didn't even look at her when she started screaming."

Tucker stared at them with a horrified expression. "Danny wouldn't do something like that," he protested.

"But he did," Brutus said gently, "and that strongly suggests that his psychological development was altered by the high levels of ectoplasm in his blood. Obsessive concentration and out-of-control jealousy are common ghostly attributes."

"Danny _isn't_ obsessive or jealous," Tucker muttered. 

Laughter came from the doorway, and they all looked up, startled. Sam was standing there. "Did you really just say that, Tucker?" she asked, laughing. "You didn't forget Greg- er, Elliott- already, did you?" She added, for the benefit of Brutus and Bruno, "My ex-boyfriend. You don't want to know."

"But I want to tell them!" Tucker said gleefully, and launched into the tale of Sam's first boyfriend. 

AN: Sorry that this is so short, but I figure the fact that it's so soon after my last update makes up for that. 


	16. Day 4: Gossip

Divided by Two: Part One (Revelations): Chapter 16 (Gossip)

Divided by Two: Part One (Revelations): Chapter 16 (Gossip)

Once again, Danny had gone to the park while Sam and Tucker explored the town. Danny had been the one to suggest this, because he needed time to write his daily journal entry, but his friends' speedy acquiescence had left him feeling a bit unnerved. He had the uncomfortable feeling that they wanted to talk about him somewhere that there was no chance of him overhearing. This was only to be expected after all the information he'd hit them with over the last few days, but it was still disturbing.

He forced his thoughts away from his friends. It was a beautiful day, he told himself, and there was no need to worry about gossiping friends. The sun was warm on his back, but a soft breeze kept him from becoming overheated. He concentrated on this for a few minutes, just standing still and enjoying the sunlight. The thoughts about what his friends were doing vanished, and, suddenly happy, he dropped onto the grass of the hill he'd been climbing, and looked up at the blue sky. For a few minutes he lay like that, just enjoying the tickle of the grass and the smell of earth; then, with a sigh, he sat up and took his notebook out of his bag.

Writing was simultaneously easier and harder than on than on the day before. On one hand, he had more parent-safe things to tell Mr. Lancer. Moreover, he felt that he had a better idea of what to do, after Garrett Wren had helped him. On the other hand, Mr. Lancer had emailed Danny in response to the email containing Danny journal entry. He wanted "more details and descriptions", and for Danny to "please spell-check and use proper grammar. Danny grimaced at the notebook and started to write.

A few sentences later, he read over what he'd written, crossed it out, and then began again. "My friends are probably talking about me behind my back right now..." he'd written; so much for distractions.

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker were gossiping about Danny. Tucker had filled Sam in on what he'd learned without her by the time they reached their destination: a small café, where they could snack while they talked.

"Do you know what Maddie was working on in the lab that was so important that the Fentons decided to take the chance that Danny would get hurt?" Sam asked, after they had ordered.

"No idea," Tucker replied, shaking his head, "and that's not what I'm most concerned about. It was sixteen years ago. I just want to know what it did to Danny."

"And why they left Friendship," Sam added. "They still haven't told us, and I think it has a lot to do with why Danny's acting so weird."

"Sam, he's a Fenton. He's always weird." He waited for her to scowl and tell him to be serious, but she didn't. In fact, she wasn't even looking at him anymore.

As Tucker turned to follow her gaze, Sam snapped, "It's not polite to eavesdrop."

"Sorry," the brown-haired youth at the table behind her said unapologetically. "You mentioned the Fentons who left. Why?"

"Why do you want to know?" Tucker asked curiously. Sam scowled at him for talking to an eavesdropper.

"Same reason anyone would," the boy replied. "I remember the scandal before they left, and I'm curious."

"What scandal?" Sam asked, her worry for Danny momentarily overcoming her hostility towards the newcomer.

His eyes went wide. "You don't mean- you can't-" he broke off with a laugh. "You actually don't know about the Fentons!" he exclaimed gleefully. Suddenly, his face turned suspicious, and he said, "If you don't know, why were you taking about them?"

"Danny's our best friend," Sam said shortly, annoyed again. "He's been acting weird since we came here, and we're worried. If you know anything-" Sam stopped and looked away, realizing that she'd come perilously close to asking the annoying stranger for something.

"Danny's the one that doesn't talk, right?"

Tucker nodded. "But he talks fine now."

"No kidding? Huh. Wonder when he learned..." The boy trailed off, and was silent.

Sam coughed pointedly when he didn't seem likely to say any more.

He looked up and, seeing her glare, blushed. "Sorry. Uh, anyway, were you wanting to know about the whole story before they left, or just the last bit?"

"All of it, if you would," Sam requested primly.

"Where to begin... Well, first of all, the parents are (or, at least, were) crazy-"

"Are," Tucker said.

"Right. So. people were always seeing lights flashing in their house and hearing weird noises and stuff, but no one knew what they were doing in there. And, like I said, the parents are crazy. So everyone mostly avoided them. Then there was the girl, Jasmine. Pretty much the only one to ever have anything to do with her was the nanny, who didn't speak English and hardly left the house. She was a strange kid, from what we did see of her. She always had books with her, since before she even turned four. Then her parents did send her to kindergarten, and all they said was that they didn't believe in kindergarten. No one could figure it out. It didn't seem to hurt her at all though, since she skipped second grade, anyway.

"So. That's what things were like when Mrs. Fenton got pregnant again. Everything seemed to be going as usual, and the doctor told her that she was going to have a healthy little boy." Here the boy stopped, and waited as if expecting a reaction. When Sam and Tucker didn't respond, he looked startled. "You really don't know anything, do you?" he asked, but continued speaking without waiting for an answer. "Anyway, it all seemed to be normal, but then she insisted on giving birth at home, with just family. Her sister was a nurse and all, so that was alright, even if it was a bit weird. And she wouldn't go to the doctor anymore, she said. She was just going to take care of it all herself.

"Then due date was coming close, and she stopped leaving the house. The date for the baby's birth came and went. More than two weeks passed after the due date, and we saw hide nor tail of the baby and its mother. But then, finally, she showed up at the grocery store. 'The children are at home with their nurse,' she said. The all wanted to know why she hadn't brought the baby, but she wouldn't answer, just say, 'The children are at home with their nurse.' It wasn't for half a year that anyone saw that baby, and when we did, the rumors just got worse. That's 'cause, whatever the doctor said about a baby boy, it wasn't true, ultrasound or no. There wasn't a healthy baby boy," he paused, dramatically, watching Sam's and Tucker's intent expressions with amusement.

Smiling, he said, "There were _twin_ boys."

AN: Tell me truthfully how many of you expected that, please. :)


	17. Day 4: Spirits and Screams

Chapter 17: Spirits and Screams

"And so, hello," a deep voice said cheerfully, just as Danny was tearing out a page from his notebook.

"Hello again, Garrett Wren," Danny said, turning to look up at him. Danny noted that he seemed a little bit less pale and gaunt today. Perhaps he had just been suffering from the after-effects of a bad cold? "Would you mind helping me again?"

Garrett grinned. "For you, I would write all day and all night." He leaned a bit closer, and held out his hand for the page Danny had just ripped out. As Danny handed it to him, their hands touched. Danny jerked his hand backwards, shivering without knowing why.

"I don't think it'll take quite that long," Danny said, forcing a smile despite his inexplicable discomfort. "But then again, I'm often wrong."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What?" Tucker yelped. His mouth opened, and began moving silently.

"What?" Sam asked blankly, at the same moment. She met the story-teller's eyes, and held them. "That's not true. If you've forgotten, Danny and Tucker and I have been friends for practically forever. He definitely doesn't have a twin."

But the stranger was too busy laughing to answer. Sam waited patiently for him to stop laughing, and Tucker continued to stare blankly at the wall. Finally, Sam stood and calmly walked over to stand beside the boy, who had fallen on the floor from laughing. She kicked him. Hard. "If you're quite done," she snapped, "then you may explain yourself."

He yelped, and sat up quickly, glowering at her. "That was unnecessary," he muttered. "If you'd just let me finish, girl, you'd understand. I- oh, never mind. Where was I? Right, six months. Anyway, everyone wanted to know where this second baby came from, because the ultrasound had shown only one baby, right? But Mrs. Fenton just said the ultrasound must have been wrong, and wouldn't discuss it. That didn't stop people from coming up with other theories, though. The most popular was that the Fentons had messed up on some kind of experiment, or it was a lab accident or something. 'Course, a lot of people said that it was the opposite; that it was on purpose. No one would put it past the Fentons to mess around with cloning or weird junk like that. But no one knows for sure.

"The twins were named dány and ándy, but their folks called them Fetch and Phantom for some reason." He pronounced the names "dah-_nee_" and "ahn-_dee_", with both the stress and a strange upward lilt on the final syllable. "Phantom- that's ándy- seemed pretty normal, mostly. He'd laugh and coo at everyone when he was happy, and scream when he was upset. Not that anyone saw him much, mind you. He was usually left at home when she went out, when he was a baby. She brought the twins and Jazz to the park every week or two, and that was all. The other twin, dány or Fetch, was the strange one. He never made a sound that anyone knows of until he was almost two, except for once.

"It was a fine day, and Mrs. Fenton had taken her children to the park with her sister. They sat to rest and chat on a shady bench at the side of the path. My mom was there, and she says that Mrs. Fenton was in that awful blue jumpsuit she wears- and Sophie Fenton was in her nurse's clothing- as she'd just come from work- and they looked like nothing more than like a loony-bin patient and her keeper. The little girl lay down in the grass with a book. The twins were in the baby buggy, and they were asleep (or at least that's what Mrs. Delaney, who was on the bench next to them knitting, says.

"Then Phantom woke up and started fussing. Fetch didn't wake up, and Phantom was quiet again once Mrs. Fenton gave him a binky. Nurse Fenton came over and made faces at him like women do when they see a baby. You know what I mean, like this," he demonstrated, "and cooing and doing baby-talk. Anyway, Jazz, the girl, got excited over something in her book, and Mrs. Fenton went over to see. While they were looking at the book, Nurse Fenton picked Phantom up out of the buggy.

"Immediately, even though he'd been sleeping until she picked Phantom up, Fetch started to scream. He screamed like- well, not like a normal baby. It was louder, for one thing, and that's saying something. Sarah Johnson says it sounded like rusty chains on a swing-set. It was closer to a scream than crying, too. Right at that moment the wind started blowing hard enough that the trees were tilting, and that was on a day when there hadn't been enough wind to knock over a flea's house. 'What are you doing?' Mrs. Fenton shrieked, 'Put him back! Hurry!'

"Nurse Fenton did so as quick as a wink, and the baby stopped screaming and the wind stopped blowing, and both the Fenton women were pale as ghosts. Mrs. Fenton came over and started whispering into Nurse Fenton' ears, sharp and angry, but no one heard what she said. Then Nurse Fenton started to cry, saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I didn't mean to' over and over and over again while Mrs. Fenton kept on hissing in her ear. After a bit she stopped, and they left, with Mrs. Fenton glaring at everyone in sight.

"And that's the only time Fetch made a single sound until he was almost two."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Writer's block. Need I say more?


	18. Day 4: Cafe, Stairs and Garrett

/2: Part One, Revelations: Chapter Eighteen; Café, Stairs, and Garrett

The bell over the door rang as someone came into the café. The boy who had just come in was laughing to whoever was with him. All through this, Sam, Tucker and the stranger were silent.

"Not really?" the boy exclaimed, still laughing. Sam quickly turned around to face the door, because it was Danny (or would that be dány?). He was standing next to a handsome, dark-haired man. The man was smiling at Danny, and his green eyes lingered on Danny's face for too long.

"Danny!" Sam called, caught somewhere between surprise, pleasure and disapproval. He looked up and grinned, walking over with his friend. "I thought you'd be writing all day."

"I thought so, too, but Garrett helped me again- Oh. I almost forgot that you hadn't met yet. Um, Garrett," he turned to the young man, "this is Samantha Manson, called Sam, and this is Tucker Foley, and this is some guy that's sitting at their table. Sam, Tucker, and random person, this is Garrett Wren." Now that Danny was closer, Sam could see dark circles under his eyes, and that he seemed too pale. Hadn't he slept at all?

Now that he'd fulfilled his introducer's duties, Danny looked at the storyteller, who was staring at Danny unabashedly. The storyteller grinned. "Hey, dány. I'm John Miller. You remember me, yeah? I'm Susan's brother. She's the one who broke her arm falling down the stairs."

Danny made a face. "Little blond girl, with pigtails and blue eyes?" He plopped into one of the seats at the table and gestured for Garrett to do the same. "Always following people around?"

The stranger- no, John- nodded. "Yeah, the one you really, really didn't like," he said, his voice cold.

Danny shook his head, confused by the hostility. "I didn't really care about her one way or the other, actually. I just wanted her to go away."

"Right, which is why you _pushed her down the stairs_," John snapped, "because you didn't care 'one way or the other.'"

"I was four! I wasn't thinking. I mean, sure I pushed her, but I didn't really think about the stairs. If I'd stopped to think, but I was really angry- I mean, little kids push each other all the time. I just wanted to make her go away, and shoving her was the first thing that occurred to me. I just forgot that humans don't float- I didn't think she'd get really hurt or anything..." Danny trailed off, eyes widening. He blushed.

"You... forgot that humans don't float." Tucker echoed doubtfully. "How did you manage to do that?"

Danny glared at him, and then hid his face in his hands. "You met my parents, Tuck. Do you really need to ask that question?"

Sam and Tucker shared a look of comprehension. "That would explain it," Sam said.

"No duh, Sam." Tucker turned to Garett and John, "His parents sometimes seem to care more about their ghost-stuff than about the people around them. The Fenton kids got ghost stories instead of fairytales."

Sam and Tucker could almost see the gears working in John's head as he put the new facts together with the information he already had. It seemed they had unintentionally fed the rumor mill. "Sooo... uh, what time is it, anyway?" Tucker said, in a rather obvious attempt to change the subject.

Garrett pulled out a pocket-watch from his long coat, and his eyes widened. "Can it be?" he exclaimed, "It is three! Though I grieve," he said apologetically to Danny, "I must leave."

"Oh," Danny said, frowning. "Already? Can we meet up again tomorrow?"

"I'll see you here at two," Garrett murmured, smiling. He waved, and left. Danny half-stood, as if to follow him, but then settled back into his seat instead. He sighed, slumped down in his seat, and scowled.


	19. Day 4: Childhood

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen: Childhood

"So, am I interrupting a gossip session, then?" Danny asked, breaking an uncomfortable silence. Garrett had been gone for several minutes, and no one had said a word.

Sam and Tucker shared a glance. Sam, watching Danny closely for a reaction, said slowly, "In a way... John was just telling us about... Andy."

Danny flinched and sank lower in his chair. "Oh."

Sam had been hoping that John had lied, and therefore that Danny wasn't keeping secrets from them. She frowned. "It's true, then."

Tucker exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell us that-"

"We don't mention him," Danny said distantly. He was staring at a spot behind Sam's shoulder, and she turned to see that at which he was looking. There was only the wall. "I haven't heard his name in more than seven years, until just now. Please don't mention him to me again."

"Hey, quiet; I haven't finished the story yet," John said, half joking to break the tension and half honestly annoyed. He was obviously very pleased to have a new, interested audience; Danny was ruining it by acting out the epilogue. "We were only up to when you were about half a year old, so they don't know anything yet."

"Oh?" Danny said faintly, turning to look at him. "Well then, don't let me stop you. Feel free to continue," he said incredulously.

John willfully ignored the sarcasm. "So, where was I?" He asked cheerfully, rubbing his hands together. "Oh, right, didn't talk until he was two, not a sound, and so on- except for that one time when he- you- were about a year old, you know," he added to Danny, looking suddenly awkward.

Danny raised an eyebrow.

John cleared his throat. "Erm... right. Anyway, other than that Fetch here was silent as the grave until he started talking when he was two. So, when the twins were almost a year old, they and Jazz (who was two years old, I think) started getting babysat by a woman who couldn't speak English. She spoke Spanish and some gibberish language no one understood-"

"Japanese," Sam interrupted.

"Oh, was it? Cool. Anyway, the kids started spending almost all of their time with her. She lived right down the street in an apartment building, and the Fentons would just drop them off in the morning and pick them up at dinnertime. She was more their parent at the time than the Fentons were- um, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong," he told Danny nervously.

"No, you're right. Nana was great," Danny said, smiling a bit. He asked Sam and Tucker, "I told you about her, remember?"

"Yeah, about two days ago," Tucker grumbled, "since you apparently never tell us anything."

Danny shrugged. "I never talk to _anyone_ about _anything_ that happened here, Tuck."

"Anyway, I don't know why the Fentons didn't just take care of their own kids, since they were at the house all the time anyway, but that's how it was. The theory-" He glanced at Danny again, as if to make sure that he wasn't taking offense yet (which Danny wasn't). "-was that they were working on some kind of weird experiment in the basement, and the kids couldn't stay around.

"So it lasted like that for awhile. When the twins were about four, the nanny died, so they started going to day-care. Jazz was in first grade then. This was the first that anyone really met the twins outside of park visits and Sunday school. At both of those other places, they seemed a bit odd, but mostly normal. án- I mean, the other twin, took awhile to start talking to people much, but he was sociable, nice and a right chatterbox once he got started.

"I guess we thought of them as one person, because no one noticed that Fetch didn't talk until they started day-care. Fetch here was shy, never talked except to- uh, the other twin, and that was always in their own funny language. It was some mix of Spanish, baby-talk and- what was the other, Japanese? Like I said before, he only started speaking at all when he was two, and then it was that gibberish. Anyway, he-" John stopped, and looked worriedly at Danny again.

Danny sighed. "Juts pretend I'm someone else. It was a long time ago, anyway."

"Right..." John looked a bit less uncomfortable. "That means you can't get mad at me, since you're not you. So, anyway, he never really had anything to do with any of us. dány was always with the other one, and he never seemed to even really notice anyone else. You could scream right behind him and he wouldn't turn to look, just keep looking at á- the other. I already told you about the stair thing," he said, looking a little embarrassed at the last part.

"And that's pretty much how it stayed for more than a year. The twins went to the day-care in the morning, where Fetch flitted through our lives like a ghost- or a wraith, like his name-sake- and the other was almost like a normal kid; and Jazz went to school and was a little prodigy. Then, in the afternoons, they went to their aunt and uncle's house, and sometimes stayed the night there. There was a lot of gossip about it at the time, because people thought that the Fentons should spend more time with their kids. The three children really did spend more time with other people than their own parents.

"Things kept on that way until the winter before the twins turned- or would have turned- six."


	20. Day 4: Explosion

"Things kept on that way until the winter before the twins turned- or would have turned- six

"_Things kept on that way until the winter before the twins turned- or would have turned- six." –John Miller, Day Four_

Chapter Twenty: Explosion

Danny stood. "I'm going to go get a coffee," he said casually. "The people at the counter have been giving me the evil eye."

Sam watched with worried eyes as he walked away. It was obviously just an excuse to leave.

John waited a moment, also watching Danny, but then turned back to Sam and Tucker. "It was a dark, cold night in January of 1996. The five-year old twins were at home with their parents, and Jazz was at a friend's house. The parents raced out of the house at eight or nine o'clock, and took off in their van. They often did so, at all hours of the day and night; I don't know why.

"About fifteen minutes after they left, although no one knows the exact amount of time, there was an explosion. I saw it from my bedroom window; it looked like green fire; what we now call ghost-fire. Someone called the police, the firemen and an ambulance. About the same time they all arrived, the Fentons showed up.

"They managed to find Fetch in the basement after an hour or so, and he was rushed to the hospital- comatose. It was amazing he even survived, because the explosion seemed to have originated in the basement. It turned out that he and ándy had been left at home alone while the Fentons went out; but no one could find Phantom. No one ever did find his body, but he was declared dead after three days."

The group was silent for a long time. John turned away, to the big café window, and watched the cars go by in the street.

"Fetch stayed at the hospital until the next morning, when he was moved out for 'special treatment'. No one knows where he was taken. He didn't come back from wherever it was until June, less than a week before he turned six; and when he came back, he wouldn't talk at all, not even in the gibberish language. In early July, they started sending him to a psychiatrist, hoping that would get him to talk.

"Fetch would have started going to school in September, if it weren't for the explosion, but they kept him home because the psychiatrist thought it would be too much for him at the time. Meanwhile, Jazz skipped third grade and went straight into fourth.

"In December, the family moved away. They wouldn't tell anyone where they were going."

"Amity Park," Sam muttered.

John ignored her. "In January, the first ghost showed up. Over the next few months, we were over-run with them. Casualties were rising every day, but the Guys in White managed to subdue the threat, and no one's died from ghost-attacks yet.

"The theory is that the Fentons had something to do with the ghosts coming; that maybe they opened a door to some other realm, down there in their basement. No one knows for sure, but it seems a bit coincidental that they vanished right before the first attack. Not to mention the fact that it was ghost-fire that destroyed the house. Some people even say that they sacrificed the child in order to open the gateway; that it had to be opened at the exact moment that a soul passed through. Personally, I think that's a load of B.S."

"Anyway, they left and were never seen again- until today, at least." John grinned.

Danny heard the last sentence as he returned, holding a cup of coffee. "We were in Amity Park. Supposedly, Ryan thought it'd be good for me to get away. I think it was really mostly that my parents wanted to leave, though."

"Ryan?"

"My psychiatrist. The Guys in White made me see her. They were afraid that spending too much time around ghostly energy would make me go all crazy and evil or something, not that they've ever said that straight out."

"A psychiatrist," Tucker said, deadpan. "Wow. I always knew you were crazy, but that's bad even for a Fenton." The corners of his lips twitched into an almost-smile.

Danny sighed. "She's alright," he admitted, "but I still won't talk to her. I'm not exactly fond of the GW."

"You still see her?" Sam asked, astonished. "How come we've never heard about her?"

"I only have to see her three times a year, and it's mostly just so that she can talk to my parents and make sure I haven't had some kind of relapse," Danny explained, looking a bit embarrassed. "You haven't heard about her because it's not something I tell people."

"Why not? Everyone knows your entire family is nuts." Tucker grinned.

Danny scowled at him. "Very funny, Tucker."

The silence stretched for so long that it almost felt like the silence itself was feeling embarrassed and awkward.

"So," Sam finally said brightly (which was, in itself, a sign that something was wrong; Sam never, ever did anything brightly), "who wants to hit the arcade?"

In a few minutes, John was on his way home, while the three friends went to play video games.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: So now you know it all; or do you? ;) Don't worry, the revelations aren't finished yet! Danny (or dány, or Fetch, or Wraith) has many more secrets to come... as do several others.

As always, tell me if you find any mistakes. I keep note of them and will be fixing them when I finish Part One: Revelations.


	21. Day 4: The Nature of Spirits

XXX

WARNING: This chapter includes discussion of the nature of souls. I don't think I've put in anything that could be found at all offensive, but if you think you'll feel upset then you might want to skip this chapter. My descriptions aren't religious in nature, but rather paranormally scientific.

Warning Two: I have coined my own word, 'ensouled'. Sorry.

Divided by Two: Chapter Twenty-One: The Nature of Spirits

The entire family was home for dinner that night. Uncle Bruno even carried Aunt Sophie out to sit on the couch, so that everyone was in the big room. Although the dinner table could, at a stretch, fit eight, they somehow ended up eating picnic-style. All twelve of them (thirteen, with the baby) scattered around the living room, choosing spots on the chairs and the floor.

It wasn't a very comfortable meal. Brutus and Maddie were sort-of fighting, Sophie wasn't feeling well, Tucker and Sam were trying to avoid awkward topics with Danny, and Joseph and Jackie had both made it very clear that they _did not_ want to be there.

The tense silence was broken when Bruno said, "So, for the sake of family togetherness: what is everyone planning on doing tomorrow? I'm going to work, of course. I'm going after dinner tonight, too. Sorry about that, Sophie."

"That's alright. It'll give me more time to read 'The Other Boleyn Girl'." Sophie murmured. "Jamie, eat your peas," she added, taking a spoonful of the vegetable and making him eat a bite.

"Jack and I are going to pay the GW a visit. We need to pick up some information on ghostly activities in the area," Maddie said. "If we're going to find the source of the trouble, we need to get cracking. How about you, Danny?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno. Go to the park, meet up with Garrett, work more on my homework; maybe go to the arcade again; maybe even see a movie-" he stopped, suddenly looking thoughtful. "Hey, Mom, we never sold our property here, did we?"

Jazz looked at him sharply and studied his expression, but he ignored her.

"No, of course we didn't," Maddie said slowly, wondering what he was thinking.

"So the house is still there?"

"Yes, but why?"

"Could I take Sam and Tucker over there to see it tomorrow?" He asked casually, still not looking up from his plate.

"I suppose," Maddie granted, frowning.

Sam interrupted the next silence before it could get properly started. "Mrs. Fenton, I wanted to ask you something about gho--" Sam stopped, glanced warily at little Jamie, who was afraid of ghosts, and chose a different word. "--about spirits. What are they, actually? I mean, are they actually souls, or what? Where does the ectoplasm come in?"

"Well, gh- spirits are actually ensouled ectoplasm. There are two basic types of ghosts, partially or emotionally ensouled and wholly or obsessively ensouled. Their strength varies depending on the strength of their soul-tie; that is—" Maddie stopped, seeing that all of the teenagers but her own children looked blank. "Danny, maybe you could explain better."

"Me?" Danny looked surprised to be called on, but nodded. "Alright; um... Well, first of all, what Mom means by a 'soul' is both life-energy and the essence of a person. It's tied in to emotions, and is made stronger by them.

"Ectoplasm is a natural energy-source that lies dormant until it gains a soul, at which point it begins to produce more ectoplasm and energy, and can eventually take a form that resembles the soul inhabiting it- um, although the soul doesn't actually have its own form, it seems to think it does. No one really knows how that works, although I've heard theories.

"The first type of ghost (sorry, spirit), the emotionally ensouled spirit, is created when a soul feels an extremely strong emotion at the time of death; and by 'extremely strong', I mean obsessive and fanatical, even insane. The part of the soul that ties into that particular emotion is held in this world by said emotion. The soul is, with death, detached from the body; wanting a material form, it enters the closest appropriate and soulless vessel.

"This creates a mindless spirit with no other goal than feeding off of the emotions of the nearest beings. Remember that souls are strengthened by emotions, and ectoplasm is strengthened by the soul. The easiest strong emotion to produce is fear, which is why so many ghosts are violent.

"The other basic type of spirit, an obsessively ensouled ghost, is created when a soul is entirely tied into this world. This requires an obsessive attachment that is stronger than even emotion; the whole soul needs to be tied into that one longing. A wish for revenge, lovers separated by early death, soul-mates who won't be separated, very attached twins, a grand ambition that was never realized... Some of these souls are held here by 'unfinished business', and they can pass on after finishing it. Others, such as dead lovers who want to stay together after death, stay forever.

"These souls attach themselves to ectoplasm in the same way that partial souls do. However, these spirits base their ghos- their spirit-ly appearance on their appearance during life, although it is rarely a precise image. Obsessively ensouled spirits have varying mental abilities, usually similar to human intelligence. They act a lot like humans, and will often come up with complicated plots to create the strong emotions that they need and to reach the goal of their obsession. They can feel all the emotions that humans feel, but are usually more obsessive and possessive. They often have less capability for pity and mercy than humans, but not always. They sometimes forget their human lives, or only have vague memories.

"Physically, they often have abilities related to their obsession. Because of their nature, they are impossible to kill. You can contain them or, at the most, separate the soul from their ectoplasmic form. If you do the latter, they can collect new ectoplasm and get a new form, but it takes a long time to form, about a year, and they might not remember their first... spiritual life, so to speak.

"They can get new ectoplasm anywhere, because it's everywhere. My parents have even hypothesized that a second universe, made entirely of ectoplasm, overlays this one and links into this one more strongly than any others, and that spirits can access it from anywhere in the world, but can't travel between the two except in places with very high levels of ectoplasm. That would be why there are so many spirits here, because of high level--" Danny stopped and coughed. "Sorry. I- um. I think I'm sounding a bit too much like my parents now. Can I go back to eating now?"

Everyone was staring at him. "Of course, Danny," Maddie said. "But where in earth did you learn so much? I thought you weren't interested."

"I'm not interested in gho- in spirit hunting. That doesn't mean that I don't follow your conversations with Dad. Besides, in case you forgot, I'm kind of personally affected by how ectoplasm affects things."

At that reminder of Danny's past, the room returned to tense silence.


	22. Day 5: Haunted House

XXX

Divided by Two: Chapter Twenty-Two: Haunted House

The house sat peacefully in the lot, looking completely normal. Sam felt a bit let down. Really, shouldn't the scene for the town horror story look more gothic?

"My parents used to try to seem normal. They only gave up after the accident," Danny explained as he walked up the path. "Aunt and Uncle have been taking care of the outside since then." His voice and face were blank- not sad, or a depressed void of dark nothingness, just blank- and, despite his best efforts to seem calm, his hand was shaking as he unlocked and opened the door.

The room they stepped into might have been a living room once. The room was blackened and burned, and pieces of the interior walls were missing. Danny headed unhesitatingly for the area of greatest damage; a hole in the wall that seemed to have been a doorway. He stepped through the hole and behind the wall.

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before following him. Sam went first and found herself at the top of a set of stairs, which were, surprisingly, entirely intact. As in the living room, the walls (and stairs, and ceiling) were black with ash. There were no lights, and the only thing she could clearly make out was Danny's white shirt, already halfway down. "A dark and narrow stairway into the void," she whispered, and then, grinning, followed Danny down.

As she walked, she kept seeing glints of silver out of the corner of her eyes. Stopping (and making Tucker jerk to a stop to avoid hitting her), she studied the wall more closely. It only took a moment to discover the source. "Danny," she asked, "why are the walls made of metal?"

"It's mixed with some kind of ecto-proof material. My mom invented it when I was a baby so that I'd stop falling through the crib," he replied, his voice echoing up from the Dark Void. "She-" He stopped.

"Danny?" Tucker called cautiously.

Danny didn't reply, and Sam stepped warily into the basement. The rubble-filled room was partially lit by a faint, flickering green light, and her eyes were immediately drawn to its origin. "Danny?" she asked faintly, reaching out to catch hold of his sleeve. "What is that?"

Tucker, stepping out of the stairway behind them, cursed. Before the wall to their right, there was a Hole in the air. Sam couldn't think of any other word for it- it was as if someone had ripped a great gash in the universe, and green spirit-mist was swirling behind it. She shuddered.

"It's an inter-dimensional rip," Danny said tensely, lifting his free hand to cover Sam's hand. "Those idiots didn't close it- foul fiends, has it been open all this time? No wonder there are ghost attacks-" He cut himself off sharply and snarled. "If the Guys left it open on purpose as some sort of plot to get recognition..."

"But what is it?" Sam repeated quietly. "A dimensional rip to where?"

"To the ghost zone. This is where all of the ghosts have been coming from- and my parents, at least, knew it had been created. They made it, after all." He steps forward, letting go of Sam's hand. "They told the Guys in White- or they should have. If they didn't, I'm going to-" Danny paused, took a deep breath. "This is what killed him."


	23. Day 5: InterDimensional Portal

XXXXXXXXX

AN: I, being bad with math, have almost definitely given conflicting numbers and dates at various points in this story, despite my meticulously planned timeline. Until I get the time to do a proper edit, and for the sake of your date-keeping sanity, here is a partial and basic (very basic!) timeline of events:

**September 15, 1988: Jazz is born. **

**July 23, 1990: dány and ándy are born.**

**January 18, 1996: The Accident.**

**June 6, 2006: The first chapter of this story; Day One.**

Divided by Two: Chapter Twenty-Three: Inter-Dimensional Portal

The green mist swirled behind the tear, its faint luminescence sending flickers of light into the room, almost- but not quite- like candlelight. Occasionally a thin tendril of mist slithered out of the hole and stretched toward him, almost as if they were calling him.

Anger burned through his veins. It shouldn't be here; why hadn't they closed it?

Something else fizzled and squirmed under his skin, an electric excitement and overwhelming yearning as the ghost-lights tugged at the very essence of his being. Slowly, with his eyes locked on the light, he took a step forward.

"Danny?"

Danny snapped his head around in the direction of the soft voice and found himself looking into bright violet eyes. The dark-haired girl's worried face was bright and clear as the fay light danced across her face, and he drew in a sharp breath at the nearly painful beauty of it. _Beautiful_, he thought, and was unable to look away.

"Ten years ago, or thereabouts, my parents built a machine: a machine that was bigger and better than anything they had built before; a machine that should have been impossible," he said clearly, feeling as if the violet eyes that held his gaze were drawing the tale unwillingly out of him.

"They had been working on it for years- for so long that they had thought they'd _finished_ it in _college_, even, but there was an accident- and they only finished the redone, 'accident-proof' version so early because of a major breakthrough my mom made while she was pregnant. It was a machine to make a portal from the human universe to the ghost dimension. The only problem was... that it didn't work."

Danny paused, the memories spinning through his mind: His mother sobbing at the kitchen table; his parents arguing hysterically; being thrust aside and forgotten in the panic that maybe, after all those years of work, _ghosts weren't real_.

"One night they got a call claiming that there was a ghost in the park, and we were left at home." As he spoke he could see it, the wraith-like images flashing before his eyes: his parents racing out of the house, so intent on proving that all was not lost that they never spared a thought for the five-year-olds left all alone.

"We went into the lab. We were too young to know better." The two boys trooping down the stairs into the bright and sterile lab; a dark head before him; a flash of a mischievous grin over a shoulder as- "He started messing with the wires on the machine." He was good with electronics; they both were. Despite all beliefs to the contrary, Jazz wasn't the only genius in the family. Nonetheless, they were only children, and there was little chance of them actually making the machine work.

"He found, of all things, an on-off switch, and he turned it on." A small body bent over a jumble of wires; green sparks twisting, jagged, across the metal like snakes of light.

Panic.

"I yelled, and he jumped in front of me." Being shoved behind the blue-eyed child; reaching out and grabbing a childish hand to push him behind Danny, to protect _him_; clinging as, too late to change it, green light filled the room.

"There was an explosion." Green light everywhere, eating them alive; him, Danny's only companion in the sea of light, dissolving before Danny's eyes; screaming; until all that was left was a single bone clutched in Danny's hand; and, finally, too late, the light receding.

"When it ended, there was this." He gestured at the gash in the air, still not looking away from Sam. "This, and me- alone."

_Alone._

"Then I collapsed, and I remember no more."


	24. Day 5: Making Peace

...

AN: I'm sorry for the wait; I couldn't decide what came next! I kept deleting pages and rewriting.

Divided Twenty-Four: Making Peace

Danny spent the next half hour leading them around the house in near silence. The few words he spoke were, disturbingly, in Spanish and the odd babble-speak the twins had invented; and, while Sam and Tucker knew logically that this wasn't strange behavior, it still made them feel like they had fallen down Alice's rabbit hole.

Beyond the living room and basement, the rest of the first floor was largely unharmed, and the second floor only needed a good cleaning to be returned to its original state. Most of the rooms had been emptied when the Fentons left, but the twins' room, which they visited last, seemed to have been left untouched. It was here that Danny spoke again.

He plopped down on the bed, setting loose a cloud of dust that made Tucker cough. "They didn't want to come in here, After," he said. They could all hear the capital, and Sam and Tucker shifted uneasily. "_I_ was with the Guys for five months, starting the first day After, and they'd well and properly moved into Aunt's house by the time _I_ got back, and _I_ had enough clothes and things there that it was alright. That was June. By December we'd moved to Amity, and they just bought _me_ all new things."

He frowned, and, in less than a whisper, breathed, "I. Me." He blinked, hard, and then stood. "Ready to go?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Somehow, they ended up at the roller rink. Danny seemed to have easily dismissed the morning's events from his mind, and spoke in as fluent and cheerful English as he ever did. He raced Sam around the rink and put so much effort into it that he almost beat her; he played every game and event held that day, except for the ones for little kids (like the hokey-pokey); and he only came off the rink when, after two hours, they called a couples' round. He had just enough time for a soda before the set was over and he headed back out.

A cute blond girl joined him halfway around the rink. "Hey," she said, smiling. "Aren't you tired yet?"

Danny shrugged, grinning back at her. "I haven't been here so long. Besides, I just had a break," he pointed out. He was sweating a bit from moving so much, but, since Sam and (more tellingly) Tucker were still skating, it couldn't have been that long since they arrived.

"Yeah, for, like, two minutes. I've been here for an hour already, and you were already here then, and, _anyway,_ I've been on, like, two or three breaks. So have your friends. Aren't you just _exhausted_?"

Danny shrugged again. "I'm fine."

She laughed. "Not very talkative today, huh? Well, that's fine; my mom always says I can talk enough for two, anyway. My name's Susan, by the way; what's yours?"

Danny abruptly stopped, coming to a rest against the wall. Startled, the girl went a bit too far, and had to skate backwards to rejoin him. "Susan Miller?" Danny asked sharply.

"Yeah! How'd you guess?" she asked, her eyes wide. "Are you some sort of psychic?"

In a strange juxtaposition of time and place, Danny saw _dány saw_ Susan Miller _annoying Susi_, a cute teenager _a little girl who couldn't keep her hands to herself,_ smiling at him _screaming as she __**fell**_.

"I'm Danny Fenton," he said softly.

"Oh," she said. "Well. You- Um. I, well, um, sorry. I mean- for- I had meant to say, back then, sorry for kissing him. But you didn't know English. I guess you do now, huh?" she finished awkwardly, with a slight smile- an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," he said, equally uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, too. I mean, for pushing you. I really didn't know the stairs were there-"

"Oh, no!" she interrupted hurriedly. "No, that's fine, I figured out awhile that you probably hadn't meant to. I mean, if you didn't care about me enough to look at me, you probably didn't care enough to want to hurt me, right?" Then, only hearing her words after she'd spoken them, she flushed, adding, "Oh, I'm sorry, that didn't come out right at all, I didn't mean it like you were some kind of- of callous psychopath, I just meant-"

"That I didn't dislike you, just wanted you to leave?" Danny finished for her seriously. "That I was a bit messed up in the head at the time? That I probably forgot about you the second you were out of my sight?" he grinned at her abashed expression; she probably thought he was insulted. "You'd be right. I was a really, really weird kid. I'm better now, though; so, all forgiven?" he asked anxiously, holding out his hand.

Looking relieved, she shook hands. "Yeah; peace."

Suddenly feeling tired, Danny said sheepishly, "Actually, I think you were right about me being out here too long. Not to be rude, but I'm going to see if Sam and- if my friends are ready to leave. I'll see you around, alright?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, still looking as if a giant weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

Or, Danny thought cynically, as if a childhood nightmare had just accepted her tribute and sworn not to harm her.

...


	25. Day 6: Dreams

Chapter 25: Day 6: Dreams

The rest of that day was reasonably uneventful. Danny went off on his own again to visit Garrett and write. Brutus and Sam went to some environmental thing, leaving Tucker very confused. Brutus was a tree hugger like Sam? That explained the vegetarian food at every meal, at least.

Jackie and Sophocles Joseph went to the movies with friends. Bruno (who insisted that all of the Amity Park teens call him _Uncle _Bruno) was working at the library, and Jazz was with him. Jack and Maddie were out ghost-hunting.

That left Tucker, Aunt Sophie and little Jamie home alone. Aunt Sophie was feeling sick again, so Tucker ended up watching Jamie, who was exuberantly pleased by the chance to spend time with a 'cool big kid'. Tucker was very, very glad when the active child finally decided to take a nap, even if it _was_ pretty cool to have someone who appreciated his wicked awesome technological genius.

Dinner was come-when-you're-hungry leftovers, so no one spent much time together in the evening. Danny came home at eight, ate dinner, and went to bed with hardly a word to anyone. This was, perhaps, for the best, after the morning he had had; Tucker had a feeling that any discussion Danny had with his parents in the next few days would be loud and angry.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, Danny fell asleep in the backwards twilight of the false dawn. The shadows in this edge-time are long, and the pile of clothes in the corner look like a huddled man in a long cloak. Watching it sleepily, Danny almost thinks he can make out a face. And old, old man in a ragged cloak, he imagines.

The man looks up at him and smiles, a broad smile from ear to ear, like a gaping hole across his face. "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you come and join the dance?" he whispers hoarsely, and the smile on his face is a hole, a gaping tear in the flesh of his cheeks. He holds up his hand and gestures Danny forward encouragingly. "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you come and join the dance?"

Danny shakes his head mutely, once again bereft of speech.

The old man laughs, and his eyes are like black pits. "Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance," he murmurs. "Would not, could not..."

Danny tries to pull away, but his blankets are like shackles pinning him in place. The man takes a step forward.

"Shhh," a warm voice whispers, and a gentle hand tugs his twisted blankets loose and covers him again. "Shhh, allkay, Fetch'mi." The old man backs away and turns into a pile of clothes again, and Danny leans into the warmth with a soft out-breath of relief. The darkness comforts him, and he sleeps.

And Danny woke up, and it was dawn, and he was alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm going to the library," Jazz said at breakfast. "Does anyone want to come with me? They have sign-ups for summer events there."

"I do," Sam said gloomily. "It's not like there's anything better to do around here."

"Sure," said Tucker, mostly to get out of babysitting again.

"いいえ," Danny muttered, "今日図書館に行きません."

"Danny? Are you alright?" Maddie asked, studying his pale face anxiously. "You look pale."

Danny shook his head. "悪夢に魘された," he explained.

"I don't speak Japanese, Danny," she said with a sigh.

Finished with his breakfast, Danny took it silently to the sink. "お休みなさい," he called cheerfully as he left the large room.

He went to bed, and he dreams of immortal green.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: The words that Danny dreams ("Will you, won't you," etc.) come from Lewis Carroll's song 'The Lobster Quadrille'. This song is no longer copyrighted.

If your computer doesn't recognise the characters that Danny speaks in, have no fear: it's Japanese anyway, so you probably wouldn't understand it. (And, if it really bugs all of you, I can change it to Romaji later.)

Translation: "No, today I'm not going to the library." "I had a nightmare." "Good night."

Yes, the dreams are in present tense on purpose, including the final line.


	26. Day 6: Phantom Fetch

Phantom

Phantom

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

When they told him Danny Fenton was alive (Danny? dány was Danny, now?), there was hope. Painful, aching, thrice-damned _hope_, the last beast from Pandora's Box- hope hopehopehope_hope. _Hope filled his chest, made his heart flutter, his lungs contract and shiver and his stomach twist into panicking, writhing snakes- snakes of fearful hope that would bite him soon, he knew, because it couldn't be as they said. Fetch was Gone. "Fetch'mi Quietus," he whispered, softly enough that the leaves closest to his face were barely disturbed.

The Humans from the fight with Technus were long gone now- ha-ha, gone Gone, Fetch Gone, not Gone?- and he had watched them leave from where he crouched in the branches. Idiot Humans never looked up. They had stayed awhile, apparently too frightened of him and Technus to dare move. _Idiot Humans_. And they had never looked up, not once. His Fetch wouldn't be that imbecilic.

He shivered, and the nearest leaves shivered with him. His Fetch wouldn't be too frightened of Ghosts to chance movement, oh no, not like the normal Humans. No. Not his Fetch. But if he was...

Perhaps he should watch for awhile; find out if the Humans spoke the truth, find out how many weapons his parents currently carried (they had been Hunters, hadn't they?), find out what dány was like, make sure he would be welcomed by his One.

"dány," he breathed, "Fetch'mi, Fetch'mi, dány'mi..."

So he watched, and he saw that Fetch yearned for Phantom's presence as strongly as Phantom did for his- but why, when this was so, had dány not looked for him?

It was while watching and waiting, also, that he saw the Threat; another Ghost encroaching on _his _territory, his dány. He had wanted to wait more, but this forced him to approach sooner than planned.

On Saturday night- impossibly long seconds minutes hours _days_ later- he first dared to approach his Wraith. Fetch was twisting and turning and whimpering in the dark of his room, and it hurt. When had he ever let his Fetch be hurt? Never, oh never, and he wouldn't now. So he slid into corporeality, and walked silently to his One.

"Shhh," he crooned as gently as he could manage; and he was surprised that he had not forgotten this, had not forgotten how to comfort. He loosened the covers gently, gently, crooning words of comfort, words in their language. "Shhh, allkay, Fetch'mi." Carefully he tugged the blankets back over his Wraith, and, unable to resist the pull, he bent over and ran his hand down dány's face. Fetch leaned into the touch with a soft sigh, and Phantom's heart and soul and spirit ached with the yearning.

He stayed and watched over dány until he began to stir and wake; and then he slid out of Being and into the calm quiet of silent unseen unheard.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sunday, June 11th, 2006

Everyone was home that evening, so they had a picnic on the back deck. Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Brutus babbled happily about their new clubs and activities; Jamie babbled happily about the movie he saw that day; Aunt Sophie, about her book; Maddie and Jack, about their findings in the ecto-levels around the town; and Uncle Bruno, about a new load of books at the library. Danny was half asleep at his place, despite having slept until one in the afternoon and napping until five after his return from visiting Garret. All that writing had really tired him out, he supposed.

"The ecto-levels are record-high here," Maddie said. "We're finding that the readings are unevenly distributed, as well, which is very unusual." Her eyes gleamed at the prospect of a ghostly mystery. "We'll need to take some more readings to be sure, though."

"Could it have anything to do with the portal?" Danny asked offhandedly, his voice carefully casual. "Energy levels would likely be higher closer to an open ghost portal."

The happy babbling stopped.

"Open?" Maddie asked slowly. "No, dány, the Guys closed our portal."

"It's definitely not closed, Mrs. Fenton," Tucker said firmly. "It's all glowy and creepy."

"It's not creepy!" Danny protested, ignoring his family's horror at the idea of an open portal. "Morbid, scary, but not creepy. It's-" He cut himself off and blushed. 'It's beautiful,' he thought.

"It's open?" Maddie said faintly. "But that's..."

"That must be where the ghosts are coming from," Jack said. For once he looked serious.

"The Guys made the ghosts come?" Jackie asked. She looked betrayed. "But they're supposed to be protecting us. Why would they...?"

"Maybe they don't know," Brutus suggested. "Maybe it reopened naturally after the GW closed it."

Everyone relaxed, and Danny fought back a laugh. 'Idiots,' he thought. 'Portals don't reopen naturally for at least a decade and a year after they close.' It didn't occur to him to wonder how he knew this.

"Yes," Maddie said. "That would make sense. We'll just tell Ryan about the portal at dány's appointment tomorrow."

Danny tensed. "Appointment?"

Maddie sighed. "Don't, dány," she said. "Don't start. You know that you have to go."

"Yeah, I know," he snapped, "but a little bit of warning would have been nice."

"Wraith-" Maddie said, but stopped short, looking surprised.

He scowled and stood. When Maddie opened her mouth to speak, he snarled and stormed away.

"We're leaving at six A.M.!" Maddie shouted after him.

"I won't talk to her!" Danny shouted back.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "And that's different from the last hundred times how?" she muttered. "Do you want to come?" she asked Sam and Tucker, smiling sweetly.

"Sure," said Tucker.

"Yes," Sam said fervently.

Tucker looked at her oddly for her conviction.

"I'm sick of not knowing what's up with him, aren't you?" she explained softly, under the cover of the recently-renewed happy babble.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah." Maybe tomorrow would give them some answers.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Special and overwhelmingly grateful thanks go to DarkAngelKisses, who is now beta-ing this. You should all thank her as well, as several of her insightful comments made this chapter end up being about twice as long and finished a week earlier than I expected. 

AN2: Translations, for anyone curious:

"Fetch'mi Quietus." My Fetch is Gone-dead.

"Fetch'mi, Fetch'mi, dány..." My Fetch, my Fetch, my Danny...

"Shhh, allkay, Fetch'mi." Shhh, everything is alright, my Fetch.

I think that's all of it. Sorry for forgetting the translation!

-XME


	27. Day 6: Simple Conversation

Chapter 27: Simple Conversation

After dinner, Danny occupied himself by hiding in his room and writing in his journal. When he had been doing this for nearly an hour, he saw a flash of red, looked up, and discovered Jazz standing hesitantly in his doorway. He hastily closed the notebook. "What?" he snapped.

Jazz's arms were full of books, and now she held them out to him. "I got them for you at the library," she said gently. "Because of what you said about ghosts, the other day."

Danny relaxed a bit and looked away. "Oh. Thanks. I thought..." he sighed and shrugged. "Sorry," he muttered.

"I know," Jazz said. "And no, I'm not here to lecture you. I just want to talk to you." She sat beside him on the bed and set the books at her feet. 'A Beginners Guide to Ectology', 'A History of Parapsychology', 'The Big Book of "Boo"', and 'The Guys in White, Past and Present', the covers read.

"About...?" Danny prompted.

"Anything," Jazz said. At his raised eyebrow (Jazz never came to these talks without a subject in mind), she added, "You've had a crazy week. I thought you'd like someone to rant to, that's all." His expression didn't change, so she sheepishly admitted, "Alright, so maybe I'm curious about this boyfriend of yours, too."

Danny choked. "Jazz!" he exclaimed, when the coughing fit had passed. "Garrett isn't my boyfriend!" he protested.

"How did you know of whom I was speaking, then?" she said slyly, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Danny turned red and hid his face in his hands. "Cheat," he mumbled.

Jazz laughed. "Yeah, but it worked, didn't it?" she teased. "Now, spill."

"He's about five years older than me, for one thing," Danny snapped, and he uncovered his face to glare at her. "So nothing's going to happen, even if I do have a _stupid_-" he looked down and gloomily kicked the carpet. "A stupid _thing _for him," he spat.

"It's called a crush, Wraith," Jazz said, giggling.

"Don't call me that!" Danny snarled, the comfortable atmosphere evaporating as if it had never existed. He jumped to his feet and spun to face her. "If I am that, then it's as Wraith'di Morteru! Of no one, of nothing- CAN YOU ALL JUST STOP REMINDING ME?"

Jazz jerked away, stricken. Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, Danny, I'm so sorry. I didn't even _think_..."

"No, you didn't," he snarled. "You never do-" and something in his voice told her that he wasn't just talking about her anymore, but about all of their family. "-or they wouldn't have called me that in the first place! I mean, what did they do, just say, 'Hey, gee, wouldn't it be a great idea to name our kid after an omen of death? That wouldn't be unlucky at all! It's not like we're practically sentencing him as his brother's _murderer_ or anything, right?'" Danny choked on a bitter laugh that was almost a sob. "Fetch. Fitting, wasn't it? To name me after something that leads souls to the afterlife; that lures its image to its death?"

Jazz stared at him, silent and horrified. When she could speak again without crying, she said, "Danny, you-"

"OUT." Danny hissed, turning away from her. "Get out and leave me alone. You're just- just as bad as _them_."

After an eternity that was really but a moment, the door shut behind Jazz with a sound click, and Danny crumpled to the floor with a sob.

On the other side of the door, Jazz slid to the floor and cried.


	28. Day 7: Meeting Agent B

XXXXXXXXX

AN: Thanks again to DarkAngelKisses for beta-ing!

Chapter 28: Meeting Agent B

Danny cried himself to sleep that night. He awoke at dawn, and if he had dreams, he didn't recall them. He dressed in the half-light, without turning on the electric lights; he skipped breakfast to sit on his bed and think about the plot brewing in his mind.

Should he or shouldn't he? It couldn't hurt to set things off; he could always back out later. Couldn't he?

"Kids! It's time to go!" Maddie called up the stairs. When Danny obediently appeared before her, hesitating in the shadows like a silent wraith, she continued, "Did you eat? Are you dressed in good clothes? Have you gone to the bathroom?"

Danny nodded wordlessly, although he had not eaten. He walked softly down the stairs, carefully skipping the creaking step. Maddie saw this, despite the darkness of the stairway, and sighed. "Oh, Danny! You haven't had a hidden day for years now; did it have to be today?"

Danny paused at the frustration in her voice, but then continued down the stairs and brushed passed her to stand, half-hidden, in the shadows by the door.

Sam and Jazz appeared then. "Danny's having a hidden day," Maddie announced, at which Danny backed further into the corner, until the frame of the wall-mirror bit into his back.

"What? He hasn't done that for years!" Jazz argued.

"What's a hiding day?" Sam asked, taking a moment to look around for Danny. She did a double take when she saw him standing shadowy in the dark corner.

"What it sounds like! He _hides_." Maddie groaned in frustration. "Why_ today_, Danny?"

At the moment Tucker appeared, wandering down the stairs with his eyes glued to his GameBoy. He nearly banged into Sam, but she was used to him and merely stepped out of the way; he walked into the wall, instead. "Ow!" he yelped.

"Good. We're all here. Time to go," Maddie said shortly, sending an aggravate look at Danny. "Of all days, dány!"

Danny darted out of his hideaway and grabbed Maddie's sleeve, following closely behind her out to the car. She rolled her eyes. "Wraith! Will you be reasonable for once? You know perfectly well you can't cling to me the whole way there!"

Danny did indeed know that perfectly well; and so he curled up in a corner-seat in the back, tugged one of the blankets over his head- they still sat there from the journey under the ice towers- and went back to sleep, content that he was out of sight.

They arrived.

The Guys in White's main compound way a glowing metal monstrosity with neither window nor any but one door; and that door was merely a dot against the looming fortress, surrounded by armed men and security sensors. Danny almost dragged his blanket with him, just for the thin bit of protection it would give him against the unwavering stare of the Guys and of the building and of their sensors and guns. But that would only make him look weak and childish, so he reluctantly left it in the vehicle.

They were met at the door by a blank-faced man with darker, broader glasses than was usual. "Fentons, Manson, Foley," he greeted, his expression unchanging. He appeared not to notice Danny shrinking from him and stepping halfway behind Maddie, but Danny knew that he did. He always did.

"Agent B," Maddie replied amicably. "Good afternoon. How are you doing?"

"How'd he know our names?" Tucker asked Jazz, in what he probably thought was a whisper.

"Dr. Fenton called ahead to get permission for your visit to out facility," Agent B answered coolly, startling Tucker. "I'm doing well, Dr. Fenton, and yourself?" He turned to face Danny as Maddie answered.

Danny bared his lips in a feral snarl, unable to prevent either that or his hands twisting into claws, as the man's gaze made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Agent B's lips twitched. He held his hand out in a sharp movement that made Danny flinch back; but he was only holding it out to be shaken, and Maddie turned to glare at Danny.

"Don't be rude," she hissed.

Danny unwillingly held out his own hand and allowed it to be shaken as Agent B politely asked after his health. Danny didn't answer, so Maddie replied for him. He didn't hear her answer, his attention too focused on B by fear to recognize other presences. He pulled back and hid properly behind Maddie the moment Agent B let go.

She sighed. "I'm sorry; he's having an off day. He really is usually better than this."

"That's all right, Doctor, I know how it is," the man replied pleasantly. "We've had the... pleasure... of his presence multiple times, you'll recall." The pause before 'pleasure' was just short enough that it may well have been taken for accidental and meaningless, and Maddie took it as such; but Danny, used to the agent's speech patterns, knew well that it was purposefully insulting.

"Well, if you'll just follow me..." Agent B turned and led them through the door. The front hallway was filled with dozens of sensors, which they passed without difficulty. "You understand that the children won't be allowed to accompany him into his checkup?"

"Yes, of course," Maddie said, "they're only here for... moral support, I suppose you could say."

Danny mentally cursed. Not that it was that much of a problem to his plans. It would be simple enough to get them in, only a conveyance of information that he would need to give the Guys later on anyway, but he hadn't wanted to give the information _directly_ to Agent B.

"I want them to come," he said, firmly and clearly.

"They may not," Agent B said, just as decisively.

"They're my Links, and therefore have a direct relationship to the proceedings."

Agent B stopped walking and turned to face him. "The fact that you even attempt to fool me with such a statement reveals your ignorance of ectology," he declared, although Danny saw a slight flutter of disconcertion about him- which meant, for an emotionless Guy, great disconcertion.

"No, it reveals _your _ignorance of _my_ nature." Danny smirked slightly, although he shuddered inside at having the man's attention so firmly on him.

"I assure you, we know very well what you are."

"Hardly, or you wouldn't deny that I can have a Link," Danny snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to make it look imposing, rather than like the self-conscious gesture it was. "_I_ assure _you_, I'm certain of what I say and know the implications behind it. Let them come with me."

"Why?" Agent B asked. "You've never had them with you before, nor have you expressed an interest in their presence."

"Because today I'm going to ask you for something, and when I hold up my side of the deal (_if_, that is, you give me what I want), I want them present so that I don't have to explain things twice." He forced himself to stand tall and straight, and to meet Agent B's stare.

"Very well," Agent B said, "they may attend. You will explain more thoroughly later, however." He resumed striding down the narrowing hallway.

Danny slumped in relief, and quickly followed him.

"What's a link?" Tucker asked.

"The object or person holding a ghost's soul in this world; namely, its obsession," Maddie said, her tone bewildered and troubled.

"No," Danny said, "not the Obsession. A Link is often an Obsession, but not always; I mean, take Ghosts who are Obsessed with a non-physical thing, like friendship or work. They usually have a physical item to tie their soul to, like... a special place or something that they treasured in their lives. Like Casper the Friendly Ghost, who haunted a house but was Obsessed with making friends. He didn't actually have a friend to hold him together, so he had to Link to the house."

"But you're _human_, Danny!" Jazz burst out, apparently unable to restrain herself anymore. "You may have high levels of ectoplasm, but you're still human! Your soul is tied to your body, just like everyone else."

"Hybrid, actually," Agent B snapped, "But nonetheless tied to his human body. Even hybrids retain that basic human characteristic when they are genetically altered."

Danny chose to retain his silence for the rest of the trip down. He had gotten the first thing he wanted, after all, even if everyone else was confused.


	29. Day 7: Bargain with B

/2: Chapter Thirty: Bargain with B

Danny fought the urge to squirm and look away from Dr. Ryan's intent gaze. "Well," she huffed finally. "Still not speaking to me, then?" she asked (although why she was asking _him_ when he'd just made it very clear that he wouldn't reply to anything she said, he didn't know). She turned to Maddie without waiting for a response, effectively ending the staring contest. "How has he been?"

Maddie started to babble on about their trip, his grades, his moods, his _relapses_.

Danny turned and grinned at Sam and Tucker- the least he could do was be cheerful for them, after the confusing day they'd had. He felt a brief flash of sick guilt for the things he had put them through, and the things he would put them through later (what would it do to them, to learn that their best friend was- well. time enough for that later), but pushed it away.

Agent B stood near the door, fidgeting impatiently. Danny, twisting around in his seat to see him, scowled at him. B frowned back, but it didn't have nearly as much of an effect when one couldn't see his eyes. Danny made a face at him to amuse Sam and Tucker; Tucker coughed to cover a laugh, but Sam didn't see.

"Ryan, about the portal-" Maddie said, and Danny swiveled back around in his cxhair to stare at her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Danny didn't speak to Ryan.

Maddie should have expected this; after all, he had never spoken to her before. Why would he start now? Somehow, though, she had thought that finally, _finally_ he was coming to terms with it all, that he was _better_.

But he didn't speak to Ryan, or when he was near her; or, indeed, _at all_ between the time they arrived in Ryan's office and the time the left again.

So Maddie did the talking for him. She told Ryan who Sam and Tucker were, how Danny had been acting, where they had been, what classes he took in school, and anything else she could think of, because Ryan was there to help him.

Finally she got around to what she really wanted to talk about. "Ryan, about the portal- the Guys _did_ close it, didn't they?"

"Of course, Maddie! It would be criminal negligence not to," the cheerful brunette replied.

"And it couldn't have reopened?"

"No, no, it takes at least eleven years for a portal to reopen naturally," Ryan reassured her.

"It couldn't have been reopened naturally?"

"No! Well, I suppose it could have been, but it wasn't. Really, Maddie, what's brought this on?"

"Then why is it open?" Maddie asked.

"What? It's closed, Maddie."

"Not according to these three. They paid the house a visit a few days ago, and-"

"Then they were mistaken. _The portal is closed,_" Ryan said firmly, her ever-present smile vanishing. "I think that will be all for today."

Maddie didn't move. She met Ryan's eyes and glared.

"Sometime today, please," Agent B said, sounding annoyed.

"Fine," she hissed, "If that's how you want it..." And she marched to the door, not giving Ryan the pleasure of another glance.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Then Agent B was leading them out with nary the time for a good-bye. "We'll go to a quiet room," said Agent B. "Or- my apologies. That's the Guy slang for one of the smaller, soundproofed meeting rooms. We use them for conficons- sorry, _confi_dential _con_ferences, slang again. The closest one is right... here." He stopped in front of a metal, windowless door that was marked 'CCG507'.

Inside, the room was large enough to comfortably fit a long conference table with twelve seats. 'One of the smaller rooms'; _right_. It had blank steel walls, flickering artificial lights, a steel ceiling, and a white tile floor (which, Danny knew from personal experience, likely covered more steel). Danny claimed the seat at the head of the table, refusing to let the room intimidate him. This also, fortunately, left him near the door; although, come to think of it, that wouldn't help him much if things went bad. He knew from bitter experience that the doors of this type of room locked from the outside.

Maddie sat to his left, and Tucker to hers. Across from Tucker was Agent B, and between B and Danny sat Sam. No one spoke for several minutes, as both Danny and B waited for the other to initiate the conversation.

"You know," Tucker said with his usual candor, when it seemed no one was going to speak, "it's really kind of disturbing trying to talk to someone with half of their face hidden. D'you think, maybe, you could...?" Tucker mimed taking off glasses.

B watched him impassively for a moment, then did as requested. Under the thick visor, his left eye was covered by a patch, and the skin surrounding it had four long scars running parallel to each other from his eyebrow to his cheekbone.

"Oh," said Tucker, deflated and regretful. "Sorry."

"Good lord, Agent!" Maddie lifted her hand to cover her mouth, although that did little to disguise her horror. "When did that happen?"

"Over a decade ago, now," he said calmly. "I made the mistake of provoking and underestimating a semi-human." He shrugged. "A lesson learned."

"Pity," Danny said softly. "Are you sure you've learned your lesson? All you'd have to do is let down your guard for _one moment_," his words lowered to a hiss, "and I could make the other eye match."

"Danny!" Maddie exclaimed. "How could you say such a thing?"

B sat back in his seat and scowled at Danny (proving that his scowl was, in fact, more impressive when his eyes were visible), his remaining blue eye burning with anger. "No, thank you, I'll have to pass," he answered in the same tone as Danny had used. "You'll have to live with only getting the one."

"Too bad," Danny said, in the ensuing shocked silence. "We'd better get on to bargaining, then, if we're not going to get to tear each other into bits."

"Yes, we'd better," B said amiably.

"My deal is this: I want all of your files on me, my family, and everything vaguely related to my family; or at least copies. I want them signed by the people in charge, swearing legally that they are the real files and all of the files, that the information in the files is true as far as they know, and so on; because I don't trust that you'll give me the real things unless I have that proof.

"In return, I will tell you what I am, how I came to be what I am, and what my ties are to Sam, Tucker, and án- and my brother; thereby giving you the answer to the questions you been fruitlessly asking for the past ten years.

"Is it a deal?"

After a moment, Agent B nodded. "If you'll allow your explanation to be tape-recorded."

"Yes."

"In that case, I'll get the papers and have them signed right now. Would you like me to have someone bring you refreshments while I do that? It may take awhile."

"Yes, please," Tucker exclaimed.

Agent B nodded, put his glasses back on, and left.

XXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Thanks, as ever, to my most wonderful beta, DarkAngelKisses.


	30. Day 7: Taped Confession

Divided by Two: Chapter Thirty: Taped Confession

"Danny."

Danny stopped in mid-step and slowly lowered his foot. He had been pacing the room from end-to-end since B left. "Yes?" he replied without turning to face Maddie, who had spoken.

"Tell me what happened to his eye." Her voice was hard and brittle like ice.

"He hit me and threatened me and said things about my brother in a cruel voice and thought that I couldn't fight back because I was a child so I tore it out with my hand." Danny paused for a moment, thoughtful. "He screamed," he added, and returned to pacing.

No one spoke for awhile. A young man came in with sandwiches and soda, then left again. They ate. Danny ignored the food and paced- back and forth, back and forth.

B returned with a pile of papers. Danny took them from him and flipped through them while B set up a tape recorder.

Finally Danny seemed satisfied and sat down, clutching the papers to his chest like they were all that stood between him and certain death. B turned the tape recorder on.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Date: Monday, June 12, 2006

Subject: dány Fenton, age fifteen

"My parents were near a breakthrough in their work. They had managed to get ahold of a large sample of ectoplasm. If they took advantage of it, it could put them ahead in their work by as much as a decade. But my mother was pregnant, and it would endanger the child if she worked in the lab- but the ectoplasm would disintegrate in a matter of months. She had to choose- her work or her unborn child? She kept working in the lab.

"For a few months, all seemed well. Then an anomaly showed up- a slight suggestion of a second ectoplasmicly charged life force. Over the next few weeks, it became clear that there was, in fact, a _second _child forming, with alarming speed.

"My parents came up with the theory that a piece of DNA- some skin, a bit of nail, whatever- had come loose from the first child and, because of the high levels of ectoplasm, acted like a zygote, and that it then grew to a fetus at unusual speeds. When it reached the size of the other child, it slowed to a normal speed of growth.

"But that was wrong. I don't want to go into all of the scientific reasons why that couldn't happen, because it would take too long. I can tell you, though, that if it had worked that way then we should have grown at the same speed. So it can't be so; even though it's nice to pretend that the only harm caused by my mother's carelessness was an extra child to feed, a sort of artificially created identical twin.

" What really happened was this: the original child was... I don't know the word. Infected? Injected? Filled with? Anyway, he had high level of ectoplasm. His body couldn't contain that much, so it began to latch onto his soul.

"Like a normal ecto-charged, linked soul, it grew stronger and stronger until it was strong enough to form its own corporeal body- but, trapped within a human body, that was impossible. So it grew stronger and stronger until it couldn't be contained in the child anymore.

"And a piece broke off and away. And it pulled as much ectoplasm to itself as it could, because that's what newly ensouled ecto-babies always do. That happened to protect the human baby from further ecto-poisoning, although the protection wasn't intentional. And the soul-piece took the form of its source as quickly as it could gain the strength, as spirits will do. And it copied the other and drew sustenance from their mother.

"So it happened that there were two children, exactly alike; and one was mostly human with a bit of ecto-poisoning, and the other was mostly ghost with a bit of human- that is, what he took from the mother.

"Then they were born, and the human baby was called ándy, and the ghost baby was called dány.

"But my parents didn't know that; they thought that I was a regular child with too much ghostly energy. So they went about removing that energy.

"It was an easy enough task with my brother. As soon as he was old enough that it was safe, they began draining, cleaning, and reinserting his blood, slowly, mind you, and reasonably safely. He was clean by the time he was a year old.

"I was another story entirely. I was more than 9/10ths ectoplasm, and after cleaning the first bit of blood they realized that it wouldn't work- I would die of blood-loss before I was 'cured'.

"So they waited until we were a year old to do much, settling for removing a tiny bit of ectoplasm every month or so. When the other child was entirely human, they started the blood transfusions.

"It went like this: take a bit of my blood, clean it, add in some of his and put the mix in me, wait a few months, repeat. By the time he died, I was more than three-quarters human.

"And we were very close to being one person in two bodies and with different minds.

"Then he died. The blast couldn't hurt me, of course, only make me stronger; but the shock of the separation from my Link and Obsession nearly killed me.

"You all know what happened next, although everyone somehow missed that the separation from my Link was slowly killing me.

"Then we moved to Amity Park, and I met Sam Manson. And she talked to me, and was kind to me, and didn't act like I was a mistake or an outsider or a freak or made of glass. And I liked her, which may not seem like a big deal to you, but it was the first time I had ever cared about anyone other than my twin.

"So I Linked to her, and that save my life.

"Then I met Tucker, and that was two people I liked- and then my sister- and, finally, even my parents. Not Linking to them, just- caring. That still surprises me sometimes, actually.

"And that's my story."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: In hopes of inspiring you all to research Greek mythology: this story is based loosely on the story of the Dioscuri.

I should update this again before Christmas.

Also, thank you to all of the people reading this! I love you all! And thanks to DarkAngelKisses, as usual.


	31. Day 7: Logic

AN: I apologize beforehand- this chapter is less than a thousand words, and the next 'chapter' is less than a hundred words. Oh, well.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter Thirty-One: Logic

Date: Monday, June 12, 2006

Subject: dány Fenton, age fifteen; henceforth referred to as 'S'

Interviewer: Agent B, Level Alpha; henceforth referred to as 'I'

XXXXXXX

S: And that's my story.

I: Very good; a well thought-out tale, to be sure; a very orderly piece of nonsense.

S: It's the truth. [Transcriber's note: Subject sounds defensive. A spike in ecto-levels was recorded within the room at this time.]

I: And yet it is impossible.

S: Why?

I: There is a glaring flaw in your story; a plot-hole, so to speak.

S: What?

I: If your story were true, then you couldn't be here to tell it to us. Ghosts, when deprived of their Obsession and Primary Link, quickly weaken and die, as they have nothing to attach their souls to this world any longer. If you were a professional ectologist you would know this, but—

S: Just to clarify: you're saying that, if I am a ghost- or, rather, a half-ghost with a spirit-base- I must have a tie to this world to exist; that my brother was that tie; and that, as my brother is dead and I nonetheless exist, I can't be a half-ghost?

I: Yes.

S: Which would all be well and good if my brother were Gone.

I: Which he is.

S: Which he isn't.

I: What sort of delusion is this? ándy Fenton is dead.

S: Yes. I never said he wasn't.

I: Then-

S: There are three states of being: Alive-Human, Dead-Ghost, and Dead-Gone. My brother is dead, but I am still here. Therefore-

I: Your brother is not a ghost.

S: Logic tells us that he is.

I: Logically, then, how do you know your brother is a ghost?

S: Souls that have strong ties to things on earth are held back-

I: I'm not an idiot, Fenton!

S: Glad to hear it. As I was saying, I would think that having half of your soul trapped on earth would count as a strong soul-tie, wouldn't you?

I: That's circular reasoning, kid. You can't use the conclusion of your argument as a premise.

S: Alright, then. Let's assume that I'm not what I say I am. Even so, my brother and I are- or were- twins with an extremely strong bond, an obsessive bond- anyone who knew us at the time will swear to that. The strong twin bond or the obsessive bond would each be enough to give him a strong likelihood of becoming a Ghost.

I: But not a certainty.

S: Yes. Not a certainty. Next, we have the fact that he died a sudden, violent, painful death. Again, something that would make it likely for him to become a Ghost.

I: But not for certain. Not everyone who dies in sudden, painful accidents becomes a Ghost.

S: That's right. Finally, we have the fact that he didn't receive a proper burial—

I: How could he have? There wasn't anything left, except for-

S: Yes, except for. So even the bit that was left wasn't given a proper burial- which, may I add, is the most common reason for Haunting.

I: But even so, it isn't certain.

S: No. But if you add it all together?

I: If you add it all together, then yes, it seems almost impossible for him not to have become a Ghost- but there is still the possibility that he didn't.

S: Yes, there is the possibility. Unless I am what I say I am, in which case...

I: But have you seen him?

S: No.

I: And there is another flaw. If he was a ghost, held here by an Obsession for you, then why hasn't he come to find you? Why haven't you seen him?

S: [Transcriber's note: Subject is silent for 6.2 seconds.] I would rather not answer that.

I: Because you have no answer. Because your story is a load of nonsense cooked up by a child in the throes of grief-driven madness.

S: No, because- he hasn't found me because it was my fault and he hates me.

I: What was your fault?

S: His death. It was my idea to go down there and try to fix the Portal. Like my name. I fetched him to his grave like a proper doppelganger, a proper wraith. Almost like a prophecy.

I: And you believe that he hates you for this.

S: Yes. Wouldn't he have come and found me, otherwise? He always could find me, wherever I was. Even if I hid from him, he found me. But this time-

I: This time he didn't.

S: Yes.

[Conclusion of recording.]


	32. Day 7: Penitence

Chapter Thirty-Two: Penitence

XXXXXXXXXXX

_**I**_

myfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfault_**m**_yfaulthatesmehatesmehatesmeohgodhehatesmemyfault

Like a prophecy, thi_**s**_ name _**o**_f mine. Fetch: Sho_**r**_t for fetch-life. An appa_**r**_ition in the form of a living person, sent as that person dies to fetch the soul of that person to the grave. An omen of death. A wraith, a doppelganger. Phantom's Fetch.

He hates me or he would have come for me. _I_ hate me. It was m_**y**_ fault.

_**Forgive me.**_


	33. Day 7: Contact

Divided 33: Contact

The car was quiet inside as they rode home. Danny read his files, occasionally smirking or scowling or drawing his lips back in something very close to a snarl. His friends were too busy trying to come to terms with his recent revelations to disturb him. When he had read through the files twice, he set them down carefully in his lap, as if they were a priceless treasure.

He looked up, and his gaze met Sam's. There was something dark and strange in his blue eyes, and she felt her own eyes widen in response. He let out a small huff of breath- it might have been a laugh. "What, are you too frightened to even look at me, now?" he asked in an undertone. "I'm still the same as I've always been, you know. It's only that you know more about what that means." He was speaking very softly. She would be very surprised if Maddie or Tucker, each only a row of seats away, could hear him.

"But Danny," she whispered, "I- it's just that I don't _understand_."

"Understand what?"

"All this time, you've been- I don't understand how the Link works." She wanted to say, 'you've been feeding off me, draining me. Is that all I've been to you, a food source?'

Perhaps Danny heard the words she didn't say, somehow, because he didn't immediately answer her question. "Do you remember when we met?" he asked instead.

She nodded. It was a simple, normal meeting between children; they introduced themselves, then ran off to play on the jungle gym.

"When I said hello to you, it was the first time I had ever spoken in English and the first time I spoke to anyone other than my brother. I still don't know why I did. I just- I saw you, and I knew that you would be important to me. You remember how it was; one day we were strangers, and the next..." he held her gaze intently, something in his eyes begging her to understand this.

"The Guys may cloak it in scientific mumbo-jumbo, but the essence of the matter is that Ghosts need to be held here by something, need a purpose and a reason to exist. Sometimes it's hate, sometimes it's guilt, sometimes it's love; in my case, I like to think that it was closest to love. When he left, I was literally dying of heartbreak.

"Then I met you, and suddenly I wanted to live again- or as close to it as I can come." His cheeks turned red; an acknowledgment of the teenage boy he was, despite his differences. "Which sounds really, really corny and sappy, and I'll deny that I ever said that if anyone asks me," he muttered. Serious again, he added, "In short, though, what it means to be my Link, Sam, is just that I care about you enough to live for you."

There was silence again while he waited for her response. With a sob, she threw her arms around him, and all was well between them. Danny breathed a sigh of relief and buried his head in her hair. She would stand by him, and he would continue to 'live'.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day, everything seemed to have returned to a semblance of normality by ten in the morning. That, however, was mostly because Maddie and Jack were out ghost hunting, Tucker was at his first day of technology day-camp, and everyone else was off who knew where, leaving only Aunt Sophie, Jamie, Sam and Danny- and of those four, only Sam and Danny knew what had happened the day before.

Before ten in the morning, when Tucker was home, things were... _unpleasant,_ the only word Danny was willing to use for it. Tucker wouldn't look at him, wouldn't talk to him, and it hurt. He had know for a long time that they would hate him when his secrets came out- that he wasn't human, that he had permanently scarred a man and felt no remorse for it, that he needed Sam to live- but it hurt anyway, especially after Sam's acceptance.

Danny spent the morning quietly, playing board games with the other three, and making lunch with Jamie and Sam. After they ate, though, he abandoned them in order to begin work on his plans. That lasted until three in the afternoon, when Tucker came home, and Danny had to leave. He couldn't bear to see that look in Tucker's eyes.

He soon found himself at the park, wandering around aimlessly. Or not so aimlessly, really, because he ended up at the hill where he always met Garrett. Garrett was there, unsurprisingly. Danny attempted to give him a smile.

"You are pained," Garret said, frowning. "Your smile's feigned." He looked severely at Danny and waited for a response.

Danny dropped to his knees beside him, close enough to feel the warmth of the other man's body. He sighed. "Tucker and me had a fight," he said. It was the closest he could bring himself to the truth.

Garrett wrapped an arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "You're sad, not mad," he murmured, sensibly pointing out the flaw in Danny's excuse.

"It was my fault, and I don't think he'll forgive me, no matter what I do." Danny burrowed further under the protection of Garrett's arm, and rested his head on Garrett's shoulder. Comfort from a friend was something he needed at the moment.

They sat like that for a long time, silent and still. Garrett moved first, pulling away slightly and lifting Danny's face gently with a soft hand under his chin. "I meant well," he said apologetically, although Danny didn't understand, "but I fell."

Danny frowned, uncertain of what Garrett was trying to tell him. "Wh-" he began, and then Garrett's mouth was pressed to his own.


	34. Day 8: Kiss to Kill

AN: As always, my gratitude goes to my genius beta reader, Dark Angel Kisses, without whom this story would probably sputter to a halt.

_Please note: The timeline between this alternate universe and the original universe split when Maddie made the decision to continue working in the lab while she was pregnant. It changed her, because she chose her work over her children; it created the extra child; and it moved their work on the Ghost Portal ahead by nine years or so. _

Chapter Thirty-Four: Kiss to Kill

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 (Day 8)

The world shrank to the sensation of Garrett's lips on his own. It was sweet and wonderful, and Danny decided that he really should have thought of trying this sooner.

Then the world exploded outward again, into a world of colors, feelings and _powers _that were somehow both remembered and forgotten. It was exquisite, and it was terrifying, because no human could ever experience such wonder.

Then it began to fade. Blackness spread across his vision like a parasitic disease, stealing the glorious moment from him.

The fear overcame the awe, and he began to struggle against Garrett, but the Ghost- because he could only be a Ghost, Danny knew now- held tightly to him. Danny tried to call up the energy to force him away, but couldn't.

He realized with a shock of horror what was happening. He had felt weakness like this before, as a child undergoing 'treatment'. Garrett was stealing his life energy. Garrett- who had befriended him, helped him, talked to him, kissed him- was killing him. And, for a moment, Danny wanted desperately to let Garrett do so.

But Garrett was drawing away- Danny thought, for a moment, that he had felt remorse and stopped of his own will- but he was clinging to Danny, still- someone had pulled Garrett off of him-

Danny couldn't see for the dark around his vision; he fell to his knees, unable to support himself. Gentle arms were around him, holding him closely in a painfully familiar grasp. He clung to his savior, and, without knowing the reason, began to cry.

"Stay away from him!" an unfamiliar voice snarled- the person holding him. It was so close to a growl that Danny could feel the vibrations in the man's chest.

"I merely thought- I only sought- to borrow-" Garrett broke off with a cry of fright as Danny's protector made some sharp movement. "I sorrow," he whispered. "The temptation was so strong, and I saw him for so long-"

"He's _mine_, and you will leave, Ghostwriter. Or do I need to _force_ you?" the man growled.

"No! Please, no. I will go." And apparently he did, because the person holding Danny relaxed slightly.

"There," he murmured kindly, "you're safe now. Shhh, shhh, allkay, Fetch'mi, shhh..."

And Danny, feeling safe and warm (despite the man's low temperature) but overwrought and drained, slid into something which was somewhere between sleep and unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXX

Phantom curled his arms more securely about his twin as the other boy fell asleep. dány (Danny, now?) was breathing slowly, gently, regularly- God, how things had changed. Now Danny was breathing and ándy wasn't, instead of the other way around.

"Phantom は Quietusではありません," he whispered in Danny's ear, hoping it would somehow reach his unconscious mind. 'Phantom isn't Gone.'

Well. He had rescued his Human from the Ghost, made it clear to the trespasser that he wouldn't allow his presence, and hadn't even had to fight to do it. His reputation preceded him, it seemed. But what now?

He still didn't know anything- why had Danny gone to the Guys in White the day before? Why hadn't Danny looked for him, After? Would dány even want to see him? Fetch was nearly fully Human now, and apparently capable of living without Phantom. Why should he want to see ándy, now that he didn't have to?

But he was _Phantom's_. Even if Wraith didn't need him anymore, ándy needed dány, and he was willing to take what he wanted by force, if necessary. Danny was the other half of him- no one, not even Danny, had the right to keep them apart.

–but maybe it wouldn't come to that.

Suddenly decided, he shifted Danny into a better position for carrying, and headed for a woody area of the park. He'd hide away in a thicket with his Human until Danny woke up, and then they'd talk- whether Danny wanted to or not.


	35. Author Found

My Dear Readers,

As you may have noticed, updates for this story have lately been few and far between. I'm afraid that I'm just not into the Danny Phantom fandom anymore. I feel guilty for leaving you hanging like this. I sincerely apologize to all of the readers who have stuck with me for this long.

Regretfully,

XME

**EDIT: Moniol will be continuing Divided by Two, as soon as she (?) gets a new copy of Microsoft Word. **


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